


A Fortuitous Encounter

by discogirlcomingthrough



Series: Parapines [1]
Category: Gravity Falls, ParaNorman
Genre: Gen, Gravity Falls - Freeform, Implied Dipper/Norman - Freeform, Parafines, Paranorman - Freeform, Parapines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 23:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discogirlcomingthrough/pseuds/discogirlcomingthrough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Today was the day the twelve year old Pines twins were dreading all summer; the last real day of the summer vacation. - Implied Dipper/Norman</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing a lot of Parapines stories lately so I've decided to start posting them here and to my tumblr (discogirl-comingthrough.tumblr.com). 
> 
> This is the first to many stories that I have wrote for Parapines and they'll all link in and follow each other in a series. 
> 
> Throughout, there is implied Dipper/Norman, and in a later (much later) story there will be m/m (among other relationships and fandom's). 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

**A Fortuitous Encounter**

**Chapter 1:**

Today was the day the twelve year old Pines twins were dreading all summer; the last real day of the summer vacation. Today their parents were coming to take them back home. Neither of them wanted to leave. Mabel stayed up most of the night crying whilst Dipper tried to comfort her, though it must be said he was close to tears himself. Since the day they came to Gravity Falls, they grew to love it. They loved the adventures, the mysteries, the sights, and the people. Summer came and went too quickly for them.

Sitting out on the front porch surrounded by their things, Mabel and Dipper heavily sighed. Leaning on their hands they both had long unhappy faces. Mabel's two best friends, Candy and Grenada, were sat on the other side of her holding each other and silently weeping. Their Grunkle Stan was stood in front of them looking out for his nephew and niece-in-law. Soos and Wendy were slanted on the side of the mystery shack looking disappointedly at each other.

"Come on, kids!" Grunkle Stan tried to cheer them up. "You'll finally be going home! I thought you'd be happy to get away from this place." Even though he tried to put on a hard exterior, he was just as heartbroken that they were leaving. For years he only had himself to fend for. He only ever cared about the Mystery Shack and the money it made him; but since the day his great niece and nephew came into his life he found a new reason to live. Not that he would ever admit that, of course.

Mabel sighed again. "This is so unfair! We want to stay here with you guys!"

"Yeah! We were better here." Dipper solemnly declared. Mabel and he shared a melancholy stare between each other for a second, and then harmoniously stared back down to the floor.

"Aww, come on dudes." Soos spoke, wrapping his arms around the twins’ shoulders. Soos was the mystery shacks engineer, janitor, and all around go to guy. In everyone's eyes he was pretty much a part of their family even if Stan Pines would make him feel useless. Truth be told, they wouldn’t be anyway without him.  "Summer doesn't last forever, but it'll soon be next summer!" He unenthusiastically cheered. The twins sighed in unison again, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Suddenly, a car began to honk down the road towards the shack and slowed down to a holt in front of them. Everyone stopped and looked up. Both of the front doors opened. Out of the driver’s side a tall, beautiful woman climbed out. She had long chestnut hair and sparkling brown eyes. She wore a vintage orange summer dress and matching shoes. Out of the passenger’s side, a slim shorter but ruggedly handsome man hidden beneath a mop of brunette messy hair (that resembled Dipper's), wearing ripped baggy jeans and a "Queen" t-shirt jumped out.

"I guess this is see-you-next-summer then, Dip, Hambone." Wendy, a tall, ginger haired girl nodded appearing indifferent. She was older than they twins by four years. Dipper was crazily in love with her; she would be the one he missed the most.

"Maby! Dippy!" The woman cheered, running over and bending down to embrace her children.

"Hey mum ..." Dipper groaned. Pulling back slightly, she glared at her twins.

"Sweet heart, what's wrong?" She asked neither of them in particular.

"Mum," Mabel began, "we don't want to leave. We want to stay here." Taken a back, their mother swung her head around to face their father who stood a few steps behind them, looking just as shocked.

"Maby, what's all this about?" Her father asked.

"It's just, we love it here! We want to stay in Gravity Falls!" She cried. Dipper nodded.

"We want to live here all year round not just for a few months!" Dipper contributed.

"Can't we all move up here?" They begged. Their mother rose to her feet and struggled to reply.

"Sweet hearts, I ... I don't think … well, we can’t just up and move." She softly spoke. “It takes a lot of time and preparation to do something like that. It could take up to 18months to move to a new town!”

"Well, we could live with Grunkle Stan!" Dipper cheered. Mabel grabbed a hold of Stan's hand bringing tears to their Grunkle's eyes.

"Couldn't we, Grunkle Stan?" Mabel pleaded desperately as her eyes began to quiver.

"Maby, I don't think Uncle Stan would want you two to stay here, would you Uncle Stan?" Their father asked in a beseeching tone. Stan shook his head very slightly.

"No ... 'course I wouldn’t want you two rascals to stay here, you've been pains since day one, go on with you two now." He tried forcefully to snap. Mabel, who still had a tight hold of his hand, stared at him deeper making him uncomfortable.

"Please, Grunkle Stan?" Dipper grabbed a hold of his other hand and stared at him just as intently making Stan doubly uncomfortable. "We promise we'll be good!" Heavily sighing, he took a knee.

"Listen kids, we had a great summer but now it's time to go back with your folks. You can always come and visit in holidays but your folks can't just move and you guys can't just leave them. They'll miss you." He grieved.

"But ... won't you miss us Grunkle Stan?" Mabel breathed. Sighing again, he nodded.

"Course I will, you little syrup you. But you got to go home now."

Both of the twins buried their heads in their Grunkle's shoulders and shared a three-way embrace. An exchanged of sad look's between their parents was shared. When they sent the twins off to their Grunkle’s at the beginning of the summer it was to let them learn something new; to learn about a different culture, to help their Grunkle out, to meet new people, and to just have fun without having the materialistic things in life holding them back. It should have been a blessing for them to go home; never did they imagine that their children would really want to stay.

"Go on then." Stan muttered, pulling away from the twins and standing up. "See you next year." He turned and shuffled back towards the Mystery Shack door. Soos and Wendy could have sworn they saw Stan crying slightly but they dared mention it.

In a foul mood, Dipper grabbed Mabel and his belongings from the porch, stormed off to the side of the car, flung open the boot and began throwing it all in higgledy piggledy. Mabel ran to cuddle her two best friends for the last time and shared a small cry. Sighing, their parents held each other’s hand.

"Kids, I think maybe we need to have a talk before we set off." Dipper and Mabel turned to face their parents with hopeful expressions, as did Stan. "Uncle, is it okay if we come in?" Stan nodded and held the door open for them. Joyfully, Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand and ran into the shack closely followed by their parents. Soos and the others were about to pile in too until Stan stopped them.

"Whoa! Guys, family stuff, get out." He snapped, slamming the door shut behind him. All of them stared at each other. In unity, they all slammed their ears against the door to eavesdrop on the Pines' family's conversation.

***

"But why do we even have to move?!" A tall, blonde teenage girl named Courtney Babcock screamed at her mother.

"We've talked about this, Courtney" her mother replied packing a box marked 'Kitchen', uninterested at her daughters whining. "It's for Norman's best interest."

"But, how is it? He's the town freaking hero now!" She yelled, pointing at her brother who was sitting sheepishly in the corner of the kitchen. As he looked down at his red jumper he began to tug on his sleeve. He knew it'd be for the best to leave Blithe Hollow, but he didn't want to leave his friend Neil behind. Sandra, their mother, sighed.

"Courtney, don't swear. After everything that's happened, people won't leave Norman alone. They keep begging him to talk to someone they lost and calling at all hours of the night and soon someone's going to hurt him! So that's why we are leaving. Okay, young lady?" She snapped. She was near the end of her tether. Courtney slumped down in the chair next to her brother. Her pink track suit rose up to reveal a small part of her waist.

"But why do I have to go? I mean, I'm going to college next year! I might as well spend my last year in my high school with my friends! I could stay with ..."

"No!" Perry, their father, bellowed walking into the room. "We're going as a family, so suck it up, Courtney! We all have to." In frustration, she crossed her arms and glared at Norman, who sunk lower in his sit.

"S-sorry" he guiltily whisper to her. Growling out loud, she stormed out of the room.

"I hate my stupid life!" She shrieked hurling the door shut. Sandra placed her finger tips on her temples lightly rubbing them and exhaled. Perry wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"It's for the best." He reminded her. Nodding, she turned to face Norman who couldn't look at any of them.

"Are you alright, Norman?" She asked. Barely nodding, he continued to stare at the floor. "Are you going to say bye to Neil today?" She asked.  He looked over towards the back door and started to twiddle his fingers around each other.

"H-he said he'll come see me off ... He's going to come up to visit a lot. His mum said he can." He stuttered. Sandra's lips curved warmly.

"Well, that's good isn't it? You can see him during the holidays." Norman unhappily nodded. "Have you packed everything?" He nodded again with even less enthusiasm than before.

"I'm ... I'm going to go talk to Grandma." Perry looked over to him but held his tongue. Excusing himself, Norman went to his room.

Heavily he ascended the stairs until he reached his bedroom. Sighing gloomily, he pushed through the door and flung himself face-down onto the bed.

“What's wrong with your sorry face?” A green head popped up through his duvet next to him.

"Nothing, Grandma" Norman wheezed. Rising from his bed, he straggled over to his desk chair and fell onto it. The ghost of his dead Grandma floated through the bed and attempted to sit upon it.

“Doesn't look like nothing to me.” She stated, magically pulling a ball of yarn and knitting needles out of the air. “Want to talk about it?” She asked, casting on a row. Norman shook his head and collapsed over his desk bashing his forehead and causing the objects he had yet to pack to fall. “Really? Now, why would you tell your father you were coming to talk to me, then?”

"I don't know ..." Norman shrugged, grabbing a hold and mindlessly playing with a zombie figure that had fallen. "Courtney hates me all over again." He rolled off of his tongue without meaning too. His Grandma gazed at him.

“Don't be daft. She's just being a drama queen; she'll like it when you get to wherever the place is you're going.” She waffled.

"Oregon," he sighed.

“Yeah, that place. I bet you'll like it too.” Norman slightly nodded.

"Maybe"

“Maybe nothing! This place has done nothing for you, Norman.” Throwing her knitting into the air, it disappeared. Floating over to her Grandson, she hovered her hands over his. “You'll be better there. I have a good feeling. Remember what I said about being scared? You know, the night you ended up chasing zombies around and stopped that ghost girl from destoring the town?”

“Un-dead people, Grandma. We don’t use the Z word unless it’s a film.” Norman sighed, not paying much attention to her.

“Well, do you remember what I said?” He nodded gently. “Norman, look at me.” As he sat up straight in his seat, he turned to face her. “What did I say?”

"It's okay to be scared ..." He genuinely began to feel a little better.

“... As long as you don't let it change who you are.” She finished. Attempting to stroke his hair, she contiuned. "Moving to a new town is nothing compared to that night, Norman. You're my brave grandson, and don't you ever forget it."

"Grandma ..." Norman felt uneasy. "You are coming with us right?" Smiling sweetly, she floated back to the bed.

“Don't be silly, Normy. Of course I'm coming! I need to keep an eye on you.” Norman smirked “Now, you need to hurry up and finish packing, since you told your mother you already had! You'll be leaving soon.”

"Okay grandma." Letting his zombie figure slip from his grasp and fall to the floor, he leaped from his chair and over to his suitcase by the door. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins paced around in circles waiting for their fate to be decided. Ridged and tense each step echoed throughout the creaky shack. Soft traces of voices too quiet to make out buzzed into their ears, sick with anticipation.

**Chapter 2:**

"So, you two have your hearts set on staying here?" The twins’ father asked. "This isn't just a-more-month deal? It's a permanent one? Because if, _if_ we decide to do this, there is going to be a lot of a lot of  _a lot_ of work to do and you two are going to have to help us out. If we move out here and then you two decide you want to go back home, then we'll be very cross with both of you and we won’t be able to do that. So you need to be 100 per cent that you want to do this because if we do then there is no turning back.” Both of the twins nodded enthusiastically. Holding his wives hand, he bobbed his head. "Okay, go into the other room for a bit. We adults need to talk." The twins slid off of their seats and ran into living room leaving their parents and Grunkle Stan in the kitchen.

"Do you think they'll move up here?" Mabel whispered, shaking Dipper with excitement.

"I don't know, Mabel." He replied just as quiet. "I really hope so!"

The twins paced around in circles waiting for their fate to be decided. Ridged and tense each step echoed throughout the creaky shack. Soft traces of voices too quiet to make out buzzed into their ears, sick with anticipation.

“Dipper, I can’t wait much longer!” Mabel groaned after twenty minutes of waiting and plopped herself onto Grunkle Stan’s comfy chair and turned upside down. Dipper didn’t stop pacing. He was deep in thought. If they said no, how could they convince them to reconsider? It was a big thing they were asking of them.

It felt like an eternity had passed before the adults entered the living room. Cat-like, Mabel and Dipper sprung up and stood like soldiers next to each other. Their dad spoke first.

"Okay, grab your things we best get moving." The twins’ faces were ghoulish. Nauseated.

"Wh..." They stammered. They could feel their stomach’s churn and their blood bubble below their skin. Lowering their heads, Stan grimaced.

"Well, you need to unpack your things; we can't leave it all in the car, now, can we?" Mrs Pines sung. Their necks snapped to face their parents as they could feel their lips pull towards their ears.

"Seriously?!" Mabel shouted, grabbing a hold of Dippers arm. Mr and Mrs Pines smiled and nodded. The twins burst in to a frenzy; shrieking and crying as they embraced their parents who lovingly held them.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" They repeated. Pulling their hug apart, their mother carried on.

"But, there's only one thing." She softly spoke holding up her index finger. The twins looked uneasy again.

"We can't move up here just yet. We need time to find a home, transfer jobs, do all the grown up stuff, but we promise you we will all move up here, one day. Okay?" Their father finished. Mabel looked confusingly to them.

"So, we can't stay here yet?" Grunkle Stan stepped forward.

"Looks like you kids are gonna be residences at the Mystery Shack for a bit longer. What'd you say?" Grunkle Stan smirked. Their eyes grew twice the size as they grinned and dived on him shouting 'thank you' all over again. Their whole hearted laughing and joy was abruptly stopped once Dipper realised something.

"Wait, so does this mean we're not going to see you for a while?" He regrettably asked his parents.

"We can stay for the weekend ..." His mother sorrowfully looked at her husband.

"But we have to go back home on Sunday. We need to start getting everything ready to move!" Hints of woefulness taunted his voice.  "It will work out, guy’s. Dad's word!" He held up his right hand. Mabel and Dipper copied the movement with determined looks.

"Well, I guess we best go and sort out school transfers. Reckon they'll take in Sauce and Syrup?" Their mother winked as they walked out of the room.

"Let’s hope so, I'm not home schooling them" Stan joked, but truly meant what he said. Turning back to face the twins, he smirked. "I'm glad you kids wanted to stay with your old Grunkle." Mabel returned a smile so sweet and hugged him gently.

"Thank you, Grunkle Stan." Dipper joined the hug.

"Seriously, thank you." Stan's grin grew wider as he pulled both of them in tighter. After a few moments, Stan pushed the twins away awkwardly.

"Okay, that's enough of the touchy feeling mumbo jumbo." Giggling to each other, they heard a muffling noise by the door. They fell silent and faced the door to listen to the sounds.

"What happened?!" Grenada whispered.

"I can't hear" Candy replied.

"Dudes, I think they've disappeared!"

"They haven't disappeared, Soos. Listen, they’re ... no, no wait ... they could of disappeared!" Wendy mocked.

"No! Mr Pines! Dude! Hambone!" He panicked, and twisted the door knob.

"Soos!" Wendy yelled.

Suddenly all four of them fell through the open door. Piled on top of each other, they foolishly grinned and glared at the Pines family. Dipper and Mabel chuckled slightly. Taking a step over to them, Mabel raised her hands in the air.

"Good friends! Thank you for gathering here today!" Mabel formally spoke. "The Pines family has an announcement to make. Dear brother, if you please?" Mabel winked. Dipper cleared his throat.

"Why, thank you my dear sister" he spoke with a southern English accent. "Indeed we do have some news. The mystery twins; Mabel, if you'd be so kind" he laughed. Exhaling dramatically, she sung.

"WE'RE STAYING!"

Their jaws cracked as they fell open. Scrambling to get up to their feet and rushing to grab a hold of the twins, they all shared in a pleasant cuddle. This was a cause for celebration.

***

"Kitchen stuff: check. Clothes: check. Home stuff: check" Sandra muttered to herself organising the back of the moving truck. Norman threw his backpack over his shoulder and walked up towards the car.

"Norman, wait!" A boy shouted from behind him. Turning, he faced the chubby-cheeked boy.

"Hi Neil. I didn't think you were going to make it." His friend was clearly out of breath. He ran half way across town to ensure he was there.

"I ... wanted ... to see ... you off" he panted. Norman smirked.

"Thanks." Neil stuck his hand in his pocket and frantically searched for something. Norman looked a little puzzled.

"Here!" Grinning intently, he held out his fist to Norman. Looking up and down at Neil, he urged him to accept it. Norman sheepishly held out his hand and Neil dropped a small toy.

"What is it?" Norman asked, staring at his hand.

"It's a little un-dead person!" Neil cheered. "I didn't have chance to buy a real present, I got that out of a cereal box ..." He admitted, scratching the back on his head. "But I wanted you to remember that you still have a friend no matter where you are." Norman couldn't control the smile that demanded to take control his face. He slid the toy into the front pocket of his back pack and hugged Neil.

"Thanks Neil, that’s really nice of you.” His voiced cracked. Pulling away, he made a pinkie promise with Neil that they would still see each other every chance that they had.

"Dining room set: check. Courtney's things: check. Norman’s things: check. And Norman: check!" Sandra chuckled to herself and began walking over to her son and his friend. "Are you ready?" She asked, placing her open palm on her son’s shoulder. Jerking his neck in acknowledgement, he turned back to his friend.

"Promise you'll come up in a few weeks?" He asked hopeful. Neil nodded.

"Promise. I'll come up the Friday! Then we can spend like the whole weekend together!" Both beamed a smile to each other. "Good luck, Norman." Neil stuck out his tightly clenched hook. Forming his hand into a fist, he bumped it against Neil's.

"Good luck to you too." He smiled.

“Tell you’re Mum I’ll call in a few day’s Neil and we’ll arrange for you to come up.” Neil nodded.

“I will. Have a safe trip, Mrs Babcock.”

"Come on! Time to go." Perry honked impatiently. Waving goodbye to his friend over his shoulder, he followed his mother to the car and climbed into the back seat next to his sister and Grandma.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sitting up abruptly straight and dropping the menu, he couldn't help but catch the eye of two other kids his age entering through the door. For some reason his stomach began to ache, but it wasn't from hunger. In fact he wasn't hungry at all anymore. He felt sick. He wasn't sure why. Trying to ignore it, he quickly re-picked up his menu and had a second look at it, though he found himself looking around it at the girl and boy. They looked very similar. Maybe they’re twins?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got to go to Wales on a University trip this week, so the next update won't be until Friday night :)   
> Thank you for reading! :)

**Chapter 3:**

The following day, the twin’s parents were too busy sorting out their school transfer papers, child support for Stan to cover their stay for the next few months, buying new pants and skirts for when they started their new school, and trying to get everything set up. They didn't have enough time to spend with their children, however the twins didn't mind too much; they were just so happy that they were allowed to stay in Gravity falls. Tomorrow they would start their new school. Mabel had already made herself a brand new sweater for the occasion and Dipper actually had a shower for the first time all week.

Their parents felt horrible that they didn't spend much time with them over the weekend, so they decided to treat them to a leaving meal. Mabel chose to wear a new dress that she had made at the beginning of the summer. It was dip dyed from a midnight navy to sunny sky blue with glitter dazzled around the top to act like stars with a thin black belt to pull it in around her waist so the underskirt would flow out. To match, she wore her star earrings and black dolly shoes. Since Dipper wasn't the best at fashion, she decided to select his clothes too. She selected a black shirt and after a lot of arguing between the two, reluctantly allowed him to wear his beige shorts if he didn't wear his hat.

"Dip! Maby! Are you ready?" Their father called up from the living room.

"Coming!" Mabel shouted. Out of the corner of her eye she caught her brother fidgeting with his shirt causing her to place her hands on her hips, irritated. "Dipper! Stop tugging at that shirt, it looks good!"

"It's not me, Mabel." He groaned. "Why can't I wear my vest?"

"Cause it's not been washed in weeks! It's being aired out for its own sake, so stuck it up, Dipstick!" Grabbing his hand, she dragged him out of their shared attic bedroom and down towards the living room. Their mother and father were stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them. Mrs Pines threw her hands over her mouth when they appeared.

"Oh! Don't you two look so grown up?" She praised. Mabel did a little cursory, holding out her dress whilst Dipper awkwardly rubbed his neck. "Maby, did you make that by yourself?!” She asked with an astonished tone, admiring her daughters’ handy work. “It’s beautiful!” Mabel scrunched up her face playfully and swatted the air in front of her.

“Oh, stappppp.” She chuckled.

“Come on, we best be off. We don't want to miss our reservations!" She sang.

The drive to the restaurant was around ten minutes. Mabel and her mother decided to put on some pop music and sing all the way there whilst their father was trying to drown out the ‘noise’. Dipper was pretending to do the same as his Dad, but in all honesty, he quite liked the music that was playing.

"This isn't music." Mr Pines moaned. "You need to put a bit of Queen, or Kiss or even Meatloaf on! Now that's real music, am I right son?" He disrupted the whaling. Dipper nodded whilst Mabel began to laugh.

"Dad, Dippers favourite band is Icelandic pop sensation BABA!" She snorted. Dippers cheeks blushed deep red.

"No ... no it's not." He nudged his sister. "Shut up" he warned her. Their parents laughed.

"It’s okay, Dip, I quite like them too." His mother smiled in the rear view mirror at him.

"Not the 'manliest' of music genres for you, Dip ... but whatever floats your boat son. I've been known to have a few guilty pleasures myself ... mind you, Kate Bush is still pretty hard core" He tried to compose himself but couldn't help but laugh. Crossing his arms, Dipper stared out the window in a mood for the rest of the way, embarrassed and sweaty.

Once there, Mabel linked her arm with her brother.

"Sorry, bro bro. Friends?" She childishly grinned. Pushing her face, he chuckled.

"Fine, friends." He playfully rolled his eyes. "Just no telling them any more embarrassing things." He urged.

"Not even ... Mermando?" She winked skipping off in front of him. Dipper’s eyes flung wide open as he blushed even redder. He felt his body seize up at the mention of that name. Snapping out of his daze, he glared at Mabel.

"Especially that!"

Quickly following his sister into the restaurant, they were greeted by a red haired waitress who looked very similar to Wendy.

"Good evening! Table for four?" She politely asked. Mr Pines nodded.

"Follow me." As they shadowed the pretty waitress, Mabel began to pull on Dippers sleeve. Turning his head in her direction, she subtly pointed to a spiky haired boy sat a few booths away who had his head stuck in a menu.

"Dipper." She whispered. "Look how amazing that guys hair is! He looks so dreamy!" She cooed. Dipper slowly opened and closed his eyes with exasperation.

"You need to stop falling in love with every guy you see, Mabel."

***

It took them the majority of the Sunday to finally unpack their belongings into their new home. The drive up was long and tiring, especially listening to Courtney's constant moaning about moving. But Norman kept himself busy by texting Neil. It made the drive seem a little quicker, but only a little. His Grandma kept piping up about her sons driving and how he's going to kill everyone in the car, and if she wasn't already dead she'd have a heart attack: the usual, except only Norman could hear it.

They hadn't eaten properly since they arrived at Gravity Falls. It was pretty late the night that arrived so they didn't feel like eating. They made their beds and decided to crash out. However, after their busy day of unpacking and rearranging everything at least twice, they were all starving.

"Why don't we go out for something to eat tonight?" Sandra suggested. Courtney piped up.

"We're going out?! I need go find something to wear!" She shrieked, leaping off of the couch and running to her room. Rolling her eyes, Sandra looked at Norman.

"What about you, Normy? You hungry?" She gently asked. He nodded just as his stomach began to rumble. Giggling, she turned to her husband. "Perry? Do you want to go out?"

"We've just moved! Why do we need to go out for food? Can't we just get a take away?" He moaned.

"Now, Perry. Norman and Courtney start school tomorrow, I think it will be nice for us all to have a family meal out; it's a celebration!" She threw him a dirty look. Heavily sighing, he agreed.

"Fine, fine. I'll get changed." He huffed, walking out the room. Sandra ruffled the top of Norman's hair as she followed after her husband.

A few minutes later, they were all in the car and driving around Gravity Falls looking for a restaurant.

"Oh, this looks quite nice" Sandra pointed to the first place she saw. Perry pursed his lips.

"It looks like a dump, Sandra. Like everything in this town."

"Perry." She grumbled "I think this place will be fine." Without a fight, Perry pulled into the car park of the restaurant.

All of them fell out of the car sleepily and wandered into the building. A tall blonde waiter greeted them at the door.

"Good evening, table for four, is it?" He smiled at the family.

"Yeah," Perry indifferently breathed.

"Very good, if you would like to follow me to your seats," he walked over to a booth on the right side of the restaurant. "Here are your menus, my name is Craig, and I’ll be your waiter for the evening if you'd like to give me a shout when you're ready. Can I get you any drinks?" He smiled. Perry waved his hand rudely, snatching a menu from the table.

"No, we'll get them later." The waiter uncertainly smiled.

"Certainly, just flag me down when you're ready." As the blonde haired boy made his way to another table, Sandra looked at Perry side wards.

"Why didn't we get drinks?" She questioned.

"That's their way of getting us spend more money. If we get our drinks with the meal, it’s cheaper and you don't get full up either. I know how these places work" he eyed up the waiter from across the room.

Norman opened up his menu and began to read through it. It took him all of two minutes to decide he wanted the gammon. Closing it again and slumping down in to his chair, he began to scan the room banging the menu against the table carelessly. He couldn't see many ghosts in the place, to his surprise. Only one leant against the juke box with a black jacket slung over his shoulder and a knife sticking out of his chest. The ghost angrily stared at the kitchen counter. There was a story there but Norman wasn't particularly interested at this point. Instead, he held the corner of the menu against his face and began tapping his fingers on the table and looked up towards the door. Sitting up abruptly straight and dropping the menu, he couldn't help but catch the eye of two other kids his age entering through the door. For some reason his stomach began to ache, but it wasn't from hunger. In fact he wasn't hungry at all anymore. He felt sick. He wasn't sure why. Trying to ignore it, he quickly re-picked up his menu and had a second look at it, though he found himself looking around it at the girl and boy. They looked very similar. Maybe they’re twins?

"Norman, you ready to order?"

"Huh, what?" He snapped back to reality. "Oh, s-sorry. I'm ready."

***

After finishing their meal, Mr and Mrs Pines held hands with each other over the table.

"I know this isn't the best way for us to be a family" Mr Pines started. "If we could move up today, we would. We're sorry this will take a while but we promise we'll do our best." Mabel put her hand on top of theirs.

"It's okay! We're sorry we wanted to stay ..." She whimpered. "It's just ..."

"We're better here." Dipper finished. "I know it sounds silly, but we actually have friends here; good friends! And I feel a lot smarter being here, and just better all around." Dipper looked down to his feet shuffling them back and forth. "I never told you guy’s this, but I hated my old school. I ... I didn't really have friends" he admitted. Mrs Pines was taken aback. She always thought her son had gotten along with everyone, or so he said. "And Mabel and I weren't as close as we are now." He smiled at her. "And I like how close we are." Putting her arm around his shoulder, she pulled him into a side ward’s embrace.

"N'aww Dip!" She smirked, rubbing her fist on top of his hair. Both Mr and Mrs Pines smiled sweetly at their children's friendship. Breaking the silence, their father began to speak.

"Since we're not going to be here for a month or so, we decided to buy you two a special present each" he announced. "But you've got to close your eyes."

"And hold out your hands!" Mrs Pines sung. Both of them did as they were told. Placing a box in each pair of hands, they were instructed to open their eyes. Excitedly, they opened. Both of their jaws dropped.

"Is this?!" Dipper's voice cracked.

"You got us mobiles?!" Mabel was close to eruption. Their parents nodded.

"Well, now you can ring us any time, and we can ring you. Our numbers are already in the phones. And before you ask, yes, Mabel. It has unlimited texts." Mrs Pines giggled. Mabel jumped up on her seat and threw her arms in the air.

"YES!" She screamed. People across the restaurant stared at her, including the spiky haired boy. Dipper climbed up on his seat and dragged her back down, waving his hand in apology to the rest of the restaurant. Both of their parents laughed at their reactions. Once they were sat, they ripped open the boxes and exchanged numbers immediately.

"Thank you so much!" Mabel joyfully screamed full of gratitude. Dipper nodded unable to tear his eyes away from his phone.

"This is the best present ever, thank you!"

"I'm glad you two like them." Looking down at his watch, he tapped his wife's shoulder. "Right, we best get you two back and make tracks, you're in school tomorrow!" Mr Pines reminded them flagging down their waitress for the bill.

***

Norman couldn't keep his eyes off of the twins. He didn't know why his stomach was doing flips, he just felt them. He tried as hard as he could to eat his food, but his stomach was hurting too much and resisting the meat. Instead, he just kept prodding it with his fork. Sandra looked worried

"So, Norman. Are you excited about starting school tomorrow?" She asked. Norman shrugged. "It might be fun."

"Yeah, I suppose" he mumbled, looking at his mother.

"I bet you'll make some new friends"

"Sandra, the kids just turned twelve, don't talk to him like he's two, making new friends" Perry scoffed. Sandra ignored him and carried on her conversation.

"That reminds me, both of your timetables have arrived. That's exciting, isn't it?" Both Courtney and Norman shrugged again, slipping from their drinks.

"YES!" He heard a girl scream from across the room. Looking up, he saw both of the twins where stood up on their chairs. Without meaning to, he smiled widely with amusement. Perry shook his head.

"People need to control their kids, making a scene like that. It's so embarrassing. What must their parents think?" He stared at Norman who sunk low in his chair at his father’s remark. He knew what he was hinting at. He didn't want Norman to make a fool of himself again with his visions; or more correctly, didn't want Norman to make a fool of his father again. Norman suddenly wanted to go home to Blithe Hallow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Okay. Think positively. New day. New school. No making a scene. No telling people you see ghosts. You can do this Norman." He encouraged himself. Taking in a big gulp of air, he grabbed his time table from his desk and proceeded to the kitchen for breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only a small chapter, so I'll post the next one later tonight to make up for it :)

**Chapter 4:**

"Mabel, you can't take your grappling hook!" Dipper protested early the following morning. They were getting ready for their first day at their new school. Both of them were changed and halfway through packing their bags. Mabel stuck out her bottom lip.

"But why not?" Dipper slapped the heel of his hand on his forehead.

"Because you won't need it!"

"You never know, though, do you Dipper? Eh? EH!" She prodded him continuously in his shoulder.

"But it never helps with anything! Face it, that thing is more of a hazard than a help."

"Kids! Get down here if you want to go the diner! One minute before I’m going without you" Grunkle Stan shouted from the kitchen. Looking at each other mischievously, they mentally dared each other in a race. Like a flash, they both dashed out of the room and down towards the kitchen trying to beat the other. Mabel elbowed Dipper in his rib cage and maniacally laughed.

"Last one there is a smelly rotten egg!" She mocked, turning the corner to the stairs.

"No fair, you cheated!" Dipper yelled, slammed the attic door shut behind them. Reaching the kitchen door, Mabel began bouncing up and down on the spot.

"Ha! In your face, Bro bro! I won!" She rejoiced spinning on the spot. Dipper brushed her off.

"You big cheat." He muttered. Mabel laughed waving her arm.

"And you're a smelly rotten egg!" She jeered. "Say it! Say it!"

"Okay ... I'm a smelly rotten egg". He, with a defeated response, repeated back to her.

After they finished their breakfast at the diner, they met up with Candy and Grenada and wandered over to their new school in no rush at all.

***

"Norman! Courtney! Breakfast is ready!" Sandra shouted upstairs. Norman flung his back pack over his shoulder and walked towards his bedroom door before stopping. Turning back to the mirror, he forced a determined look on his face.

"Okay. Think positively. New day. New school. No making a scene. No telling people you see ghosts. You can do this Norman." He encouraged himself. Taking in a big gulp of air, he grabbed his time table from his desk and proceeded to the kitchen for breakfast.

He decided he wanted to walk to his new school. It blew some time and helped him to get better equated with the town and the ghosts which were still graving there. Popping his head into the living room before he set off, he waved goodbye to his Grandma who wished him luck for his first day.

It wasn't that far away from his house; possibly around a ten minute walk if that. He knew for certain now that more ghosts did reside in this town, but not as many as he thought there might have been. That was a little mysterious to him. Usually, places are crawling with ghosts. Though, that could just be Blithe Hallow since it was a witch town. Greeting each one as he made way through the town, he was constantly checking that nobody was around; no one knew of his gifts here and they didn't need to.

Once at the school gates, Norman watched the flood of school kids (aged 12-17) crowd into the school. Whilst scanning the building, he pulled out his timetable from his jean's pocket and stared nervously at it. Taking another gulp of air, he raised his head to face the other school children and followed them inside.

This school was a lot bigger than his previous one. Even though the halls where pretty cramped, there was still enough room to move without knocking into anyone – or more correctly, enough room so no one ‘ _accidently’_ barged into him making him drop all of his books and papers. Examining the time table in his hand, he tried to find his way to his first lesson. Room 40B, Mr Bulmoth, Science. Norman was good at science so it didn't faze him too much that this was the first lesson he would have. After going up a few sets of stairs and following the signs hung over different doors, he finally found the room. On entering, he decided it would be best to take a seat next to the window out of everyone’s way. If he got bored, he could easily waste his time by mindless watching ghost bird's fly by.

***

The three girls were walking side by side as Dipper tagged along behind. He didn't mind too much though. He was too busy examining his time table.

"So, have you guys checked your timetables yet?" He asked, not looking up from his piece of paper.

"Yeah, science first with Mr Bulmoth" Mabel cheered in front.

"Hey, I'm in that one, too!"

"Yay, we're all in science together!" Candy cheered. Dipper excitedly sprung up in between Candy and Mabel.

"Hey, do you think we'd get to do forensic science?" He asked Candy, who blushed at the fact Dipper was talking to her personally.

"Oh ... I don't know ..." Her cheeks embarrassingly flushed. "Maybe?"

"That would be so cool!" He turned to face Mabel. "Let's see your time table, Mabel."

"MABEL NO TAKE RULES FROM A TABLE!" She chortled, handing her time table over her brother. He didn't bother reacting to her sudden outburst. It was a pretty regular occurrence. Most days’ he didn’t even notice it.

"Hmmm ... Hmmmm" he examined them side by side. "We don't have the same English class ... But we're in art together!" He read. Mabel grabbed a hold of her brothers’ shoulder and shook him violently "Ahh! Mabel!" He shrieked very high pitched "I mean, ugh, Mabel!" he repeated with a manlier tone. Mabel laughed louder.

"Dipper! We're in art together! We have art today!" She clapped. "Oh!" She creepily grabbed his face and stared into his eyes, whispering. "You could be my muse." Dipper panicked, trying to push her off of him.

"Get off me you little psycho!" He struggled under her force.

"You're gonna come meet us at dinner, right?" Mabel begged. "I know we're not in English together, but promise me you'll come sit with us?" Dipper nodded.

"Twins word." He stuck his hand in the air and vowed.

"It's nearly nine! We're going to be late!" Grenada shouted looking at her watch. Candy and she began running towards the school gates. Mabel grabbed a hold of her brothers’ hand.

"Come on, Dipper! We're gonna be late for science!" She began running, dragging her brother awkwardly behind her. Once they reached the school door, they slowed down their pace and walked through the halls.

"Oooh, this place is so big!" Mabel cooed to her brother who thought the same thing.

"I think we're gonna be fine here, Mabel." He smiled to his sister reassuringly. Releasing each other’s grasp and following the two girls, Candy turned to face them.

"It's up these stairs." Candy pointed to Mabel and Dipper as she began to ascend them. Following them closely, they found their science room 40B after a few minutes. Mabel confidently skipped through the door as Dipper staggered behind. As they walked in, Mabel turned and grabbed Dippers sleeve again.

"Look!" She whispered. "It's that guy again" she subtly pointed towards the spiky haired boy sat next to the window; the same boy they saw at the restaurant the night before. Dipper smirked and rolled his eyes at her.

"You're going to become obsessed with him, aren't you?" He teased. Mabel stared at him with a serious face.

"How can anyone's hair stand up that straight, Dipper? HOW?!" She barked. Laughing, Dipper took a seat near the back of the class next to Mabel, Candy and Grenada.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm Dipper, Dipper Pines. D-do you want to be partners?"

**Chapter 5:**

Norman felt a little ridged in his seat. The twins that were at the restaurant last night had just walked into his class and were sat a few seats over from him. He tried not to look at them, but he felt his stomach ache again. He didn't understand why seeing them was making him feel so sick. He tried his best to concentrate on the class, but found himself gazing in their direction.

"So, since this is the first day back, and there are a few new faces, we're going to do a science experiment. I want you all to team up in groups of two or three. I'll give you five minutes. If you're not in groups by then, then I'll put you in groups. And trust me, you won't want that" Mr Bulmoth threatened.

Norman sighed. _Great,_ he thought. Lowering his head down to his desk, he lightly bashed it against the edge, and placed his hands over his face. _Maybe I could ask if I could work on my own?_

"Dipper! Shall we be a team?" Mabel smiled at her brother. She secretly wanted to go with Candy and Grenada but since Dipper would have been left on his own, she thought she'd be a nice sister and team up with him. But he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was more interested in the spikey haired boy who had just hit his head and tried to hide on his desk. Turning back to Mabel he shook his head.

"Erm ... I think ... I might ask him if he wants to team up ... he seems a bit ... lonely." Dipper pointed over to the boy next to the window. Mabel was delighted. Punching her brother in the shoulder, she grinned.

"I'm so proud of you for trying to make friends, Dip!" She said very pleased. Dipper rolled his eyes.

"Wow, thanks for not being condescending." He sarcastically groaned, rising to his feet. Mabel turned and joined Candy and Grenada, but couldn't help but watch her brother as he tried to make a friend.

_Okay, Dipper, be cool. Be cool._ Wandering behind the spiky haired boy he cleared his throat. But the boy didn't move.

"Erm ..." He muttered to himself, turning to look at Mabel who signalled for him to tap. Turning back, he tapped on the boys shoulder. Alarmed, the boy jumped out of his skin and turned to face Dipper who too was a little stunned at his reaction.

"Sorry!" Dipper rushed "I didn't mean to startle you!"

Norman stared at the boy. He could feel his heart beating fast trying to escape his chest. His cheeks flushed a deep red.

"S ... Sorry" Norman stuttered, scratching the back of his head nervously. Dipper anxiously smiled at him, causing Normans stomach to just melt.

"I'm Dipper, Dipper Pines. D-do you want to be partners?" He held out his hand for a hand shake. Norman just stared at him. His eyes were as brown as cinnamon. _I like cinnamon,_ he caught himself thinking. "Erm ... you don't have to if you don't want ..." Dippers hand slowly retracted and he began to shrink inside of himself. Realising he took too long to react, he shook himself back to reality.

"Oh, yeah. Y-Yes!" He bolted; slapping his hand against the boy's and shook it once. "I'm N-Norman ... Babcock."

***

Both of the boys got on like a house on fire. They laughed all the way through the science experiment which consisted of making their own rainbow using water and light. Mabel was screaming about the cuteness of the rainbows all the way through the lesson, causing Dipper to laugh even harder telling Norman all about her and her obsession with cute things. Norman couldn't stop smiling. It wasn't even an hour into school and he had already made a friend in Dipper, even if he did give him weird butterfly feelings.

"So, you're new here too?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah, we only moved o-over the weekend." Norman hated the fact he kept stuttering around Dipper, but Dipper didn't mind.

"Yeah, Mabel and I came up at the beginning of summer to stay with our Grunkle Stan" Norman looked confused.

"What's a 'Grunkle'?" He pried.

"Oh, sorry, I forget we made up that word" Dipper bashfully stared off into the distance reminiscing. "It means Great Uncle." He grinned, causing Norman to do another flip inside. "We were only supposed to stay the summer but we begged to move up here, so were staying with Grunkle Stan for a few more months until our folks can move up"

"Well ... I-I'm kind of glad ... you stayed" he shyly admitted, flustering everywhere. "I doubt ... anyone would of spoke to me o-otherwise" Dipper delightfully beamed.

"Well, don't worry about that. Now we're friends, you'll always have someone to speak to!" He lightly punched him in the shoulder. Norman's hand traced the outline of where Dipper hit his shoulder when he wasn't looking. He couldn't have felt happier if he tried.

After the lesson was over, Dipper stuck with Norman like glue.

"So, what lesson do you have next?" He asked, peering over his shoulder at his time sheet.

"Erm, English." Norman replied looking at his new friend, loosing himself in his eyes, again.

"With Miss Lacey?" Norman nodded. "Yes! We're gonna be best buds, man. I can feel it." Dipper boasted. Mabel ran past them, flicking Dipper on his ear and laughing loudly causing Dipper to grimace.

"Don't forget to meet us at lunch, Bro Bro!" She shouted behind her, running alongside Candy and Grenada.

"Luckily, my sister isn't in that lesson." He joked. Norman giggled. This was turning out to be a good day after all.

***

After their English lesson had finished, they had their lunch period. Dipper invited Norman to sit with Mabel, her friends and himself to have lunch. Gladly accepting, they sat at an empty table in the middle of the cafeteria awaiting the arrival of the other twin.

"Oh, I best warn you about Mabel ..." Dipper began a little too late.

"DIPPER!" Mabel screeched, pouncing on her brother, hugging him tightly. Norman nervously giggled. "And friend?" She let go on Dipper and put her face right into Norman's staring at him intensely. Norman was petrified. "What is this? My brother has a friend? Are you cray-cray?"

"I-erm ..." Norman attempted to speak, but was too scared. "I'm Norman ..." He almost asked.

"Norman?!" she yelled. Staring him up and down. She moved her lips next to his ear and eerily whispered. "Are you a gnome?" Dipper grabbed Mabel by her sweater and pulled her back.

"Okay, down, Mabel!" He demanded. "Let’s not freak out my friend, please." Mabel waved her hand passively in front of her face.

"I'm not freaking him out ... I'm inspecting him." She confirmed. "I want to make sure that he is Mabel approved!" Dipper sighed.

"Sorry, you ... you get used to it" he apologised. Norman bashfully shook his head.

"No ... it's fine." Norman awkwardly smiled. "It's n-nice to meet you. Erm ..." He looked away uncomfortably "I'm not a g-gnome." Mabel grinned creepily at him.

"He's so cute!" She burst, hugging him tightly, making him even more uncomfortable. "How does your hair do that? It's so pointy! Do you use products?" She questioned him. Norman shook his head.

"N-no ... it's always been l-like that."

"Electrifying." She slowly whispered with wonderment. Carefully reaching to touch his hair, Dipper slapped her hand out of the air and scolded her.

"Mabel, stop weriding people out!" He snapped and turned to Norman with an anxious smile. "Anyway ... this is Candy and Grenada." He gestured to the girls sat opposite to Mabel. They smiled and waved. Norman hadn't even noticed them sitting at the table. "They're not as scary as Mabel is ..." He added, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Pssssh." Mabel muffled. Norman laughed.

"I-I think you'd get on well with my friend Neil." He smirked to himself. She grinned even wider.

"Does he go to this school?" She looked around curiously. Norman sadly shook his head.

"No ... he goes to school in my old town." He tugged at the sleeve. Dipper could see he was missing his friend. "But, he's going to come up in a few w-weeks." He smiled. Mabel almost squealed but controlled herself.

"You should totally introduce us." She twiddled her fingers back and forth to Norman biting down on her bottom lip to stop any outburst. Dipper face palmed himself, again.

"Mabel, don't fall in love with yet another boy." He sighed. "Can't you just stick with one?"

"Why, isn't there enough to go around for you?" She laughed high fiving her two girlfriends who were making cow-like noises.

"Do you need some cold water? ‘Cause you just got burnt!" Grenada hollered. Norman was a little startled by how low her voice was, but tried not to show any sign of it on his face. Instead, he was too busy giggling at Dipper whose skin had turned scarlet.

"Ma-Mabel!" He protested.

"Oh Dip, don't be such a delicate little flower. It was only a joke." Mabel taunted. Looking back at Norman embarrassingly, he lowered his head in shame. Norman felt a little bad for laughing, and tried to think of a change of subject. _Oh, if only I weren't so socially awkward._

"W-what lesson do you guys have n-next?" He managed to muffle. Though before anyone could answer, a very small white haired boy had approached the table.

"Why, Dipper Pines! It seems you come to the wrong school!" The boy jeered. "The school for Idiots and Morons is around 1000 miles in that direction" he pointed towards the door, cackling. Norman looked over at Dipper to see he was annoyed. He felt his face form into a scowl at the white haired boy.

"Maybe you should start walking then." Norman snapped before he realised what he said. The white haired boy stood in shock at his comeback, as did Norman. He had never done something like that before but he felt the need to stand up for Dipper. Gideon growled.

"I see you have a friend. Why, it's actually rather cute. I hope I get an invite to the wedding." He taunted.

"Sorry, Gideon. I'm afraid you have to be taller than this" he raised his hand in the air "to get an invited. No kids allowed." Dipper smirked. In a huff, Gideon stormed off muttering something that sounded like ' _you'll pay for this Pines_ ' under his breath. "Thanks for that, man." Dipper turned back and smiled at Norman, making his scowl fall to a modest grin.

"N-not a problem." He rubbed his arm. "That's what friends are for, right?" He rhetorically asked.

"I like him." Mabel cheekily grinned to Dipper. "Well done in your friend choosing, bro bro."

The rest of lunch was pretty uneventful. They ate, talked, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. Norman couldn't have asked for anything better. He didn't just have one friend any more, he had many.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman didn't have the next two classes with Dipper which made him a little sad; however he did share his religious studies class with Mabel who insisted they would sit together. She was the complete opposite of Dipper, yet they were so similar. They both were friendly and kind hearted, but Mabel wasn't afraid to be herself no matter what, whereas Dipper was so easily embarrassed over any little thing. Something Norman also noticed was that being sat with Mabel didn't give him any stomach aches or butterfly feelings as it did when he was sat with Dipper, or just when Dipper was near him. It just made him feel happy that she wanted to be friends with him because her brother was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Later on in the chapter, Cam means 'Skype.'

**Chapter 6:**

Norman didn't have the next two classes with Dipper which made him a little sad; however he did share his religious studies class with Mabel who insisted they would sit together. She was the complete opposite of Dipper, yet they were so similar. They both were friendly and kind hearted, but Mabel wasn't afraid to be herself no matter what, whereas Dipper was so easily embarrassed over any little thing. Something Norman also noticed was that being sat with Mabel didn't give him any stomach aches or butterfly feelings as it did when he was sat with Dipper, or just when Dipper was near him. It just made him feel happy that she wanted to be friends with him because her brother was.

For that first 20 minutes their teacher, Mr Nicholas, never stopped droning on about how he doesn't believe in any religion and how he was an atheist and how he felt it was important for him to teach RS so the children can decided for themselves which religion they would like to follow if they even wanted to follow a religion instead of being pushed into one by society. He hadn't actually taught them anything about religion yet, he just talked about his life story and how noble it was of him to teach this subject. Norman didn't mind too much though, it meant he had time to think of other things and block him out.

Norman never followed a certain religion, but he knew there was an afterlife - he saw most of the afterlife every day! Thinking about his gift, he noticed how he hadn't actually seen any ghosts in the school up to that point. Or had he? He hasn't actually been paying attention to anyone or anything other than his new friends. Falling deeper into thought, he wondered what Dipper would think of his gift. Would he run away and never speak to him again, or think he's a liar like everyone else did, or – he couldn't tell him. It was that simple. He had to try and hide it as well as he could.

A "psssst" brought him back to the present. He looked over to see Mabel sliding him a note across the table. Looking up and down to see where the teacher was looking, he quickly opened it.

'Normy! Isn't this teach such a bore?'

He smirked to himself. Picking up his pen and replying to the note, he slid it back to her.

'I know right? We don't want to know his life story!'

Mabel held on to the note for a good five minutes, her pen never leaving the paper. Whatever she was writing, it was more than a paragraph or three long. Norman felt like he was on the lookout so she didn't get caught, or more so whatever was in the note doesn't get read out loud. That's what they did in his old school when a teacher found a note. The majority of the time they were about him. Some kids would pass on notes saying 'Normans a freak' just so the teacher would say it in front of the class so they could all share a laugh and the sender of the note could act smug that they embarrassed him. This was the first time he was actually involved in a secret note passing that didn’t involve him or anyone else being bullied which made him feel extremely joyous.

Finally returning the note, Norman subtly opened it.

'I was totes flabatgustedly _(is that even a word_ , he thought) that my bro bro just got up & went to talk to you! He's not good with the talking thing unless I'm around usually - he gets his words muddled a lot, what a silly. But you seem to be awesome so I'm glad he did!'

The right side of Norman's mouth curved as he looked delightedly at what he just read. Dipper doesn't normally just go and talk to people, but he did with Norman. Dipper normally gets his words all muddled up, but he didn't with Norman. What could make him feel more special than this simple paragraph? That was until he saw the little arrow pointing down at the corner of the page with a circle around four letters.

TOPN.

He looked up at Mabel with puzzlement written all over his face. She giggled slightly, and then made a gesture with her fingers to flip over the paper. Norman looked back down at the paper.

"Oh!" He yawned as it dawned on him that the letters stood for 'turn over page now'. Feeling a little stupid, he flipped the page over to see Mabel had filled it. Luckily, she had big writing so it wasn't as much as it appeared to be.

'He is a nice guy our Dipper is, but he's very into supernaturally-adventuring things, you might have to get used to him going on about them, or even going on a few with him.'

He paused, not realising the smile had disappeared completely from his face. _So, Dippers an adventurer, eh?_ He thought. _And he likes supernatural things? Maybe I could tell him ... No, no, no._ Sighing, he continued to read.

'I'm sure I saw you last night at the restaurant in town! I don't think I'd forget your hair, it's just so spiky! How do you not use products on it? It's like it defies gravity! Dipper should use products. Or you know, wash it every once in a while! LOL'

Norman smirked. Quickly looking up to see where the teacher was to make sure he didn't get caught, he carried on.

'Can we meet your friend when he comes down? Tell me more about him! Neil was it? We could all totally cam! Do you use webcam? Do you have a phone? Me and Dipper got phones last night! Want our numbers? You should totally have our numbers. ‘

Norman could hear in his head Mabel shouting all of these questions at him. He wanted to say yes to all of them but he didn't want to seem too eager, especially about getting Dippers number. As he was about to reply, the bell rang. He didn’t realise how long it took him to read it.

They all began to pack up their belongings and move on to the last class of the day; art. Norman was extremely excited for it since all of his new friends were in the same class but more so for the fact that Dipper was there. On the way to the next class, Mabel decided to slip her arm around Normans and rest her head on his shoulder and led him to the class. A little confused and embarrassed at the gesture, he stared at her blushing slightly. After a few seconds, she lifted her head back up but kept her grip on his arm.

“Sorry.” She muttered so quietly Norman had to lean in to hear. “We were going past Gideon …” Norman looked baffled.

“Who’s Gideon?”

“Oh, that’s right we only met you today …” She slapped her face with her free hand. “DOH! I keep thinking we’ve been friends forever, you’re easy to be friends with.” She beamed. Norman began scratching at the back on his head trying to be humble. This is the first time people thought it was easy to be friends with him. “He’s that guy you told off before for bullying Dipper!” _Oh, that’s his name!_ He thought. “Basically, he has this like mega-oober-psycho crush on me.” She rambled. “That’s why he hates Dipper so much. I couldn’t reject him because I felt really mean …” Norman couldn’t imagine anything that this little ball of energy could ever do that would be described as ‘ _mean’_ , even denying somebody. “And now he thinks that it’s Dippers fault why I don’t want to go out with him when really, it’s because he’s a tiny, silly, crazy little … phooey-face!” Clenching her fist, he could feel how much hatred she had for this Gideon person. “And he just won’t give up! So, I did that because … well,” She paused. “I was trying to hide.” Unintentionally, he started laughing at her. Retracting her arm and crossing them in front of her, she grimaced. Slapping his hand over his mouth trying to stop the sounds, he apologised.

“I’m s-sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you … I mean I-I was but … oh” he slapped his face. “I thought it was funny in a c-charming way. Like, it was c-cute that you tried to hide in my shoulder … Oh, never mind.” He panicked. Mabel dropped her arms down to her side and started to giggle.

“Oh, Normy! You’re easier to wind up than Dipper is!” She smirked, punching him in his ribs. _Ow, why did that hurt so much?_ He thought. Subtly rubbing at his rib, he tried to change the subject back to the note.

“Erm … N-Neil does cam, by the way.” He mumbled. Mabel delightedly smiled at Norman.

“Really?” She beamed. “You should totally introduce us all to him! Then we can all hang out when he visits!” Norman couldn’t wipe the smiled that formed on his face off of his lips. It amazed him how friendly the Pines’ were. He had only just moved to this town and had known them for little more than 5 hours and they were already interested in meeting his friend so they could all be friends together.

“Y-yeah. I think he’d like that.” Neil was extremely friendly, just like Mabel. He liked the fact that she made him feel like he had been there for years. It was nearly impossible for him to remember what it was like to have no friends. He wanted to thank her for not leaving him on his own, but didn’t know how to say it without sounding stupid. Before he could even fathom a sentence, they arrived at their next class.

Walking in, Dipper was already sat at a table with Candy and Grenada. Looking up towards the door, Dipper waved to his twin and newly found friend.

“Norman! Mabel! Over here!” He echoed in the very small classroom. Chuckling to himself, Norman felt an avalanche inside of his stomach crush against the edge making him feel sick at the sight of Dipper. _Seriously, why do I keep feeling like this?_ Taking the seat next to his friend, he carelessly took off his back pack and kicked it under the table.

***

Art was the best lesson of the day. All they did was muck about doodling silly things, joked about how Dippers _'realistic'_ drawing looked like a stick man who was very ill, and marvelled in the awe that was Mabel's artistic skills. The teacher left them alone the entire lesson whilst she attempted to calm down a raging boy on the other side of the room who was angry because some other kid had aggravated him. He reminded him a lot like Alvin. _Make sure you stay away from that guy,_ he noted to himself.

"Hey, Dipper! Normy said that Neil has a cam!" Mabel cheered. Dipper shook his head.

"Don't scare him away before he comes here. At least let him visit once before he decides never to return" Dipper mocked as Mabel stuck out her tongue.

And then the bell rang. The most perfect day that Norman had ever experienced had come to an end. Time seemed to move too fast today of all days. He could feel his chest deflating at the idea of him going home and sitting around waiting for school to start the next day.

As they walked out of class together, Mabel repeated her previous gestured and wrapped her arm around Normans. Norman chuckled asking her whether she was hiding again. As she pursed her lips with a hint of a smirk, she nudged Norman in side again.

"What are you doing after school?" She grinned. "Do you want to come over to our house? We could totally set up cam ..." Mabel was far too excited to meet Norman's friend. Pulling up the Mabel-free sleeve of his jumper, he awkward looked at his watch.

"I-I'm supposed to be meeting my sister ..." Though he wished he didn't have to but his mother insisted that Courtney would wait for him by the gates to make sure he was alright.

"You have a sister?" Dipper curiously asked walking on the other side of him. Norman secretly wished he would hold his arm like Mabel did. _Why would you even think that?_ Nodding in reply, he pulled his sleeve back down. "Is she in our year?"

"No, she's a senior." He explained.

"Oh, well its okay. You can come over another time." He didn't want to go over another time; he wanted to go over right now. This day was too perfect for it to just end with the school bell. It just wouldn't be right.

"Well ... as long as I quickly meet Courtney and tell her where I'm going, I can come over ... if you want." He bit down on his lip waiting for Dippers response. Watching him open his mouth to speak, Mabel butted in.

"Yeah we do!" Bashfully, Norman curled his mouth into a not so forced smile and scratched his scalp. "We'll go meet your sis then off to the shack!"

"What's your sister’s name?" Candy asked. Norman almost forgot Grenada and she were with them. All of his concentration was on Dipper and his twin.

"Courtney." He sweetly smiled to her as they walked out of the school.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have a girlfriend on your first day?!" She shrieked. "Oh, now this is precious, I never thought you'd have it in you! I have to tell Mitch this ..." Flipping her phone open again, she began to furiously tap hard against it.  
> "Courtney! No, this is Mabel, and this is D-Dipper."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have to bear with me for the next week for the next chapter because I've just started uni and I have alot of work to do, but I'll have it up soon, I promise!

**Chapter 7:**

Courtney was already waiting for Norman by the gates. Her stance was somewhat annoyed as she spoke to a person near her. He couldn't make out whether it was a boy or girl since Courtney blocked his vision. Mabel still had a tight hold of Norman's arm as they all made their way over. This will be a quick check up then we can be out of here ...hopefully.

Once they reached Courtney, she had pulled out her phone and started to viciously assault its keys; she didn't seem very happy. Seniors were let out a few minutes earlier than everybody else, and she wasn't too impressed to still be at the school waiting for her kid brother when she could be out with her new friends, or at home talking to them on the phone or over the computer.

"H-hi" Slapping her phone shut, she glared down at him.

"Ugh, Norman! I've been waiting here for like hours!" Courtney over exaggerated to her little brother as he approached her with his four new friends. Taking another glance at her little brother to see a girl clinging to his arm, her eyes grew twice the size and her mouth opened widely. "You have a girlfriend on your first day?!" She shrieked. "Oh, now this is precious, I never thought you'd have it in you! I have to tell Mitch this ..." Flipping her phone open again, she began to furiously tap hard against it.

"Courtney! No, this is Mabel, and this is D-Dipper." He smiled unfazed at the fact Courtney thought Mabel was his girlfriend. "That's Candy a-and that's Grenada" he quickly added pointing to the girls behind him, feeling bad he forgot to mention them. "They're my friends." Courtney stopped typing and looked over to her brother. Bending down to his level, she took in all of the kids around him. Tilting his head to one side, he could have sworn he saw her eyes glistening a little. "Erm ..." He awkwardly looked away from her gaze. "D-do you think mum would be okay with me going over ... to their house?" He stammered. Without hesitation, she nodded.

"Of course! I'll tell her." She slowly placed her hand on his Mabel-free arm. Leaning in and whispering into his ear ‘ _I'm so happy for you Norman’_ caused him to grin out of delight. Courtney had never been happy for him before. Standing back up, she looked over to her new friend. "Ready?"

Leaning against the gate's post, a ginger haired girl wearing a fur hat with flaps stood waiting for Courtney. Raising her hand lazily to her forehead to gesture a two finger salute, she grinned.

"Hey guys."

"Wendy!" Dipper energetically cheered to the girl.

"How we liking the new school?"

"Oh, you know." He flushed. Norman felt a punch in his chest. "Walk in the park!"

"Well that's good. Hey, I'll see you guys at the weekend." Moulding her hand into a shape of a gun, she winked and pointed it at Dipper. "Peace." Her voice lowered as she walked off with his sister. Dipper lovingly sighed. Another punch in his chest.

"Isn't she just awesome?" Loosing himself in deep thought, he floated out of the gates. Third punch to the chest.

Norman had never been good at hiding his emotions. They were forever plastered across his face. It was one of his down sides. It couldn't have been said that he didn't try to hide his feelings, but it was too late and they spread across his face like wildfire. Luckily nobody had noticed, or at least he hadn't noticed if they had. Mabel reached her lips to Norman’s ear and cupped it with her hand.

"Dip-Dip has the biggest crush on her ever!" _Not like it wasn't completely obvious._ "She works for our Grunkle." _Well, at least that explains how he even knows her._

"O-oh" was all he could muster. A purple stain formed on his bottom rim from how hard he nervously chewed his lip. This morning he woke up lonely with no friends in this town; six hours later he felt even lonelier after making friends with four incredible people. He tried to take his mind off of Dipper; he couldn't have liked him in that way anyway. He must have just been jealous over that fact that he had older friends _\- that must be it! I'm 12 after all ... and Dipper’s a boy …_

His eye’s spiralled in their sockets as his concentration wavered from his new friends and his attention was commanded by two ghosts that were hovering over their heads. The two old ladies began to nudge each other and coo at Norman and Mabel.

_‘Oh, look at how sweet young love is?’_

_‘Linking arm’s, oh, what a gentleman!_

“Shut up.” He grumbled under his breath. Mabel stared at Norman. She couldn’t tell where he was looking or even who he was talking too. Placing her fingers just before his eyes, she drew an invisible line in the air to where he was gawking. Of course Mabel would have noticed Norman acting strange and hear him mumble. She seemed to be the type of person who noticed everything. He couldn’t help the sudden reddening that toasted under his cheeks as he glared back at Mabel.

“Who you talking to?” She quizzed. His free hand found the back of his head again; he felt as if his hair would fall out from the excessive scratching from the day.

“S-sorry. I-I was … thinking” He lied. “I was trying to s-stop.” This wasn’t the best of lies he could have told her; it was Mabel, of course there was going to be a follow up question.

“What were you thinking -” However, Dipper cut her off.

“Mabel! Nobody asks a guy what he’s thinking about. Leave him be!” Norman was thankful Dipper stopped her. He made sure he didn’t openly acknowledge any more ghosts on the way back, though he felt horrible. He didn’t want to insult them. The best he could manage was to look and barely smile to them, though he felt Mabel’s eyes burning into his core. _Maybe I should fake being ill and just go home?_

“I … I’m not feeling … I-I feel a bit sick.” He wasn’t completely faking it; he did indeed feel sick since the brief encounter with Wendy though he didn’t know why. Mabel tightened her grip on his arm as Dipper stopped in his tracks.

“Normy, what’s wrong?” She pouted. “You can still come over though, right?”

“Hey man, the Mystery Shack is just around the corner. You can have a lie down if you need to?” Dippers concern aggravated Norman’s insides with a warm burning sensation. He felt drunk – or what he thought drunk would feel like.

“I-I think I’ll be okay” He stammered. Mabel cuddled his arm.

“Don’t worry, Normy, we’ll nurse you back to full health!” She played dragging him through the clearing.

In front of him stood an old, worn-down, wooden cabin with a sign slanted at the top saying ‘Mystery hack’ – he assumed the S had fallen off. It stunk of false advertising, yet it had wisps of excitement and adventure. He felt as if he fallen into one of his Zombie movies and this was the film set; he could feel his fingers tingling with anticipation and his eyes expand.

“Y-you guy’s live here?” he pulled out of Mabel’s grasp and eagerly approached the cabin and stopped short of it.

“It’s not great, I know” Dipper complained. “But its home for now.”

“No. It’s … amazing!” He awed. Dipper smiled at his friends’ admiration. As he made his way over to the shack, he quickly patted his friend on the shoulder. Norman quietly melted.

“I’m glad you like it.” He grinned, removing his hand and running towards the door. Mabel, Candy and Grenada followed suits. He was just stood there bewildered in the middle of the rough. The beating of his heart pounded rapidly like he had just finished running a marathon. “You coming, man?” Dipper shouted from inside the house.

“Y-yeah!” He managed to put one wobbly foot in front of the other until he made it to his friends’ side.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This is Norman!” Mabel sang.  
> “He’s my friend.” Dipper boldly announce, rather smug with himself causing Norman’s stomach to flutter for the hundredth time that day.

**Chapter 8**

The Mystery Shack was small and unkempt inside. It smelt old and musky as if no one had cleaned it for years. The floor and walls were browning with filth and cobwebs. Crazy contraptions and dusty fake artefacts were cluttered on the shelves. To the left, a middle aged man was stood on a small pair of ladders attempting to fix a light bulb nodded to them saying the word ‘ _Dudes’_ as they entered into the shack. In the next room over he could hear the fizzling sounds of a television play some old horror film that Norman loved. To him, it felt like he had fallen into his own personal heaven. This day was too surreal. It was just too perfect to be actually happening.

“S-so” Dipper stuttered. “Welcome to the-“

Flash. A purple mist floated in the middle of the room in front of them causing Norman to recoil in shock and violently cough.

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack!” An old man with an eye patch and a cane bellowed out from inside of the fog. Norman blinked in astonishment. “A place of mystery …”

“Grunkle Stan!” Dipper angry scowled placing his hands on his hips. “He isn’t a paying customer!” The man gasped in over exaggerated horror.

“What do you mean ‘ _not a paying customer_ ’?! All who come to the Mystery Shack are paying customers! It’s $10 to get in.”

“He’s not a customer at all!”

He sighed, lifting up his eye patch. “Man, put my best suit of for this …” He mumbled under his breath. “What do you want then, kid, if not to put me in the poor house by not paying?!”

“This is Norman!” Mabel sang.

“He’s my friend.” Dipper boldly announce, rather smug with himself causing Norman’s stomach to flutter for the hundredth time that day. Stan burst in to a fit of laughter making Dipper’s cheeks flush pink.

“You have a friend?! Oh, sure. That’s a good one, kid.” He wiped his finger under his eyes as if he was removing a tear. “Oh, that’s classic.” He turned on his heel and walked back into the next room, his laugh not wavering. Dipper shoved his hands in his pockets.

“So … that was our Grunkle Stan.” He heavily sighed. “You get used to that too …” Norman felt sorry for Dipper. He, in a roundabout way, knew how it felt to be mocked. However, it was different with his father. His father would constantly put him down because he was embarrassed of Norman, where it appeared as if Dipper’s Grunkle did it _to_ embarrass Dipper. In this moment in time, he didn’t know which one had it worse. He could see on Dipper’s face he felt sad, but he held his cute smile there. Norman was dying inside to put his arm around him and console him, though he didn’t know why he had that urge.

“Let’s go cam, hey Norm-Norm?” Mabel screeched tugging at Norman’s sleeve, pulling his concentration away from Dipper.

As they all ran up the stairs towards the attic, Norman took in the rest of his surroundings. The house was just as dirty upstairs than it was down. To anyone else it would appear to be a scary house that you see on Halloween but for Norman it was a dream. He could even imagine living here. Him and Dip – _What? What the heck, Norman?_

Once they reached what he presumed was Mabel and Dipper’s bedroom, he watched as the girls ran in, giggling to each other leaving him and Dipper stood in the hall way, alone.

“S-so.” Dipper stuttered again. It was almost as if he was ashamed that Norman was here in his home. “H-how do you like the Mystery Shack?”

“It’s amaz-it’s pretty cool.” Norman quickly changed his answer, blushing slightly. He didn’t want to seem too enthusiastic. Dipper grinned at his new friend and pushed open the door to his room. The answer he heard was definitely good enough for him. Staring after him, he quickly followed suits. He was eager to see Dipper’s room.

And it didn’t disappoint.

The room was split equally down the middle. One side, which was clearly Mabel’s (he hoped), was covered in pink. Pink bedspread, pink posters with some boy band sprawled across it, pink teddy bears, and a pink...

“Is that a pig?” Norman confusingly whispered to Dipper, pointing over to the object sat on Mabel’s bed. Chuckling to himself, he nodded.

“Like I said, you get used to her.” He whispered back. “His name’s Waddles.”

“Waddles?” He repeated with even more confusion.

“It’s because, look!” Mabel shouted from her side of the room. Snatching him off of the bed and placing him on the floor, he walked over to Norman. “He ‘ _waddles’_!” The pig came up to Norman’s feet and snuggled next to them. Mabel’s eye’s glistened and her hands covered her cheeks. “That’s … adorable!”

“Looks like he likes you, man.” Dipper nudged him. It felt wrong to Norman that all day he had a goofy smile plastered onto his face since he was so used to a frown. His Grandma was right, this place would definitely be better for him.

“Well, duh! Who wouldn’t like Norman!” Norman shook his head.

“Everyone in Blithe Hallow …” He muttered believing no one in the room heard him. It was stupid of him to forget Dipper was stood next to him.

“Are you serious?” Dipper genuinely asked, sadness taunted his voice. Norman’s eyes bulged. _I shouldn’t have said that._ Nervously shaking his head, he tried to change the conversation. Looking over to Dipper’s side of the room, he understood completely what Mabel had told him earlier in the day about Dipper being an adventurer. Over his head board, a pair of binoculars hung next to a lantern, book after book was piled messily on top of each other and a well-stocked ruck stack dangled off the end of his bed post. This was Dipper’s own personal space where he could be himself, and Norman was invited into it. Looking at the end of his bed, he noticed a guitar was propped up by the wall.

“Hey, you play the guitar?” Impressed, Norman wandered over to finger at the strings. Dipper carelessly scratched the back of his head.

“Ye –“ but Mabel beat him too it with a mouthful of laughter.

“He wishes! Dad left it at the weekend and he just claimed it.” The girl’s giggled.

“Mabel!” He groaned at his twin. “I’m going to learn!” He assured her. Norman chuckled.

 “He thinks he can win Wendy over if he serenades her.” She mocked, blowing a raspberry with her tongue. Coincidentally, Dipper turned the same colour as a raspberry. Norman’s joyful expression quickly fell.

“Mabel!” He protested. Turning back to Norman, he suggested that they’d go hang out away from the girls. “We’ll go up on the roof. No girls allowed!” He childishly shouted in Mabel’s direction, sticking his tongue out in return.

“I thought we were going to cam!” She protested. Dipper shook his head.

“Nope! You hang out with _your_ friend’s and I’ll hang out with _my_ friend!” The cheeky grin quickly edged its way back onto Norman’s face. He liked the fact that Dipper was eager to hang out with just him.

Pushing Norman back out of the room, he led him to a set a ladders which led to a hatch way in the ceiling. Dipper quickly ascended the steps and pushed open the hatch. Beckoning Norman to join, he pulled himself up through the gap and disappeared. Rushing after him, Norman could feel in the pit of his belly that this day was about to get a lot better. Popping his head through the gap curiously, Norman’s eyes widened.

“Wow…”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman wanted to tell him the real reason. He wanted to just say ‘I see dead people’ and have Dipper just accept it. But he couldn't. He really liked being friends with Dipper and didn't want to ruin it.

**Chapter 9**

Dipper extended his arm out for Norman to help pull him up onto the roof top. A tingling sensation spread through both of the boy’s finger tips for the second time that day as Norman gladly accepted his friends help. Dipper just shrugged it off. Once they were both stood properly on top the roof, Norman couldn’t take his eyes off of the scenery this secret place had to offer. A bird’s eye view of the eerily fantastic woods, a small glistening stream he didn’t even know there was in this town, a beautiful sunset with its rays embracing both of them; they didn’t even realising they were still holding hands.  Awkwardly pulling away from each other, they nervously giggled avoiding eye contact. Dipper took a few steps to the edge of the roof. Norman’s eyes followed him, his heart beating like a drum. Taking in a deep breath, Dipper exhaled happily.

“Man, would you just look at that.” He softly sighed. “I love it up here.”

“Y-yeah …” Norman grabbed at his quivering arm to hold it still. He couldn’t stop shaking in Dippers presences. Luckily, he didn’t seem to be as observant as Mabel was. “It’s peaceful.” He agreed and closed his eyes to allow the wonder to engulf him. The smell of the air entering in his nose, the wind blowing softly against his cheeks and tickling his lips into a smile, the thought that his new friend Dipper was stood not two steps away from him, this roof; this moment in time was perfection.

“Wendy showed me this place at the beginning of the summer.” His eye’s snapped back open.

“O-oh.” All of a sudden this place wasn’t so perfect anymore. Those woods did seem pretty frightening, and that stream looked mucky and full of rubbish, and that sun wasn’t as lovely as you’d think; in fact it was getting in his eyes and making him strain and the wind was just making his cheeks itchy and didn’t smell that appealing.

“You’d like Wendy. Everyone does …” _I’m sure they do._ He grimaced. He couldn’t explain what he had against Wendy. From what he remembered earlier that day when he met her she seemed pretty laid back and cool, and his sister (who doesn’t like anyone) seemed to get on with her. She couldn’t have been that bad, but something about her just didn’t sit right with Norman. “She’s kind of just the best ever.” Dipper lovingly swooned as he lay on one of the deck chairs Norman didn’t even notice were set up. He just stood and watched Dipper. Turning his head to face Norman, he beckoned him to sit in the chair next to him. The way the sun wrap itself around Dipper as he smiled made Norman sick. A boy like him shouldn’t be so perfect to Norman. A boy shouldn’t even be giving him these feelings. Biting his lower lip, he moved next to his new friend and sat down to watch the sunset. “I know it’s a silly thing to like her, I’m not senile.” He concluded.

“I-I never … said you were.” He wasn’t sure who Dipper was trying to convince; Norman or himself. “Erm … y-you can’t help who you … like. I guess?”

They lay next to each other in a state of lull as they watched the world roll by not speaking a word for a few moments. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but a comfortable one. They could hear the sound of the wind whistling past them, birds squawking as they took flight, the muffled sound of the girls in the room below giggling and talking. Norman could feel himself falling asleep listening to the soundtrack of the world.

“Did you mean what you said before?” Dipper broke the quiet. Norman rolled his head to face him.

“Erm … about what?”

“When you said that no one in your old town liked you?” He copied Norman’s movement and faced him too. Norman didn’t know what to say, so he decided to nod instead. “Why didn’t they?” Norman wanted to tell him the real reason. He wanted to just say _‘I see dead people’_ and have Dipper just accept it. But he couldn’t. He really liked being friends with Dipper and didn’t want to ruin it. He gulped.

“They … they thought I was a freak.” He sorrowfully admitted half of the truth and shied away from him. “They just didn’t get me.” Dipper frowned.

“I know how you feel.” Turning back, Norman felt sad yet hopeful that maybe Dipper understood. “I didn’t have any friend’s in my old city.” Norman found it difficult to believe that. “I guess people just didn’t get me either.” Their eye’s locked on to each other, lips half smiling.

“People must be stupid then.” Norman joked. Chuckling, Dipper nodded.

“Yup. People are the worse.” Their eye’s both pulled away from each other and back to the sunset. Norman sighed. Someone finally got it. “They mocked me because I would talk about adventure and mysteries and ask ‘inappropriate’ questions” He sarcastically quoted with his fingers, rolling his eyes. Norman smiled. “So, what about you?”

“What about me what?” Norman played dumb. He knew what he was asking but he just couldn’t say it.

“You know, why did they think you were a freak? I told you mine, you’ve got to tell me yours.” He pushed. The colour drained from Norman’s face. “Come on …”

“It’s … nothing.” He awkwardly shifted in his seat.

“Come on, man. If we’re friends, you’ve got to tell me!”

“I can’t.” He snapped, not meaning to. “I-It’s a secret. I’m not supposed to tell.” Dipper stopped. Looking down at his feet, Norman saw the pout that came across Dippers lips out of the corner of his eye.

“S-sorry man … I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to …” Norman sighed. “It’s just … it’s a big thing. And no one in this town knows. I just … I don’t want people to think I’m a freak here, too.” Gulping again, he turned back to face Dipper. “And I don’t want you to … stop being my friend.” Dipper smiled turning his whole body to Norman.

“Hey. You’re pretty much my only friend. I’m sure whatever it is I’m not going to stop being friends with you. I promise. Twin’s word.” He grinned holding up his hand. Norman playfully rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Dude, I’m not your twin.”

“Damn, that’s right …” Dipper joked. “Okay then, Best-Friend’s word!” He repeated the action. Norman’s stomach dropped. _He just called me his best friend!_ “If you want to be best friends that is …” Dipper awkwardly followed up, his palm’s becoming clammy. He felt as if he was coming off desperate to Norman who just nodded and smiled. To him, this was a perfect pace.

“Yeah.” Both of them grinned at each other. In such a short space of time they had become best friends and they both felt like they could trust the other. And Norman really did trust Dipper, but still had the burning sensation in his brain telling him not to say it.

“Good. So, you can tell me if you want to, but you don’t have to. I mean, don’t feel like you have to …” Norman could tell what Dipper was doing. He was buttering him up to find out his secret. It was pretty clever of him since it was working. Norman smirked.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. But I need to know your biggest secret before I say anything.” He devilishly crossed his arms and stared Dipper down. Dipper’s eyes shifted back and forth; sweat climbing its way to his forehead. Pulling at his collar, he stuttered.

“I…I told you one …” Norman shook his head.

“Nope. Your biggest secret!” Dipper sighed.

“Okay. But you have to tell me yours afterwards!” Norman smiled and held up his hand.

“Best friend’s word.” Grinning to himself, Dipper reached up to his hat and pulled it off.

“And no laughing.” He warned Norman. Gesturing a cross over his heart, he leaned closer. Sighing, Dipper placed his hand under his bangs and onto his forehead. Looking back up at Norman, he slowly pushed his hair up to reveal a birthmark. Norman’s eyes strained as he glared at it intently.

“Is that …” His face moved closer to Dippers. “That’s the Big Dipper, isn’t it?” He nodded, cheeks burning with embarrassment. “So that’s why … you’re called Dipper!” He nodded again, allowing his hair to fall back down. Suddenly, Norman realised how close their faces were. Blushing immensely, he pulled away and scratched the back of his head. Picking his hat up from his lap, he pulled it back onto his head and adjusted it.

“Your turn.” He smiled. Norman didn’t consider actually having to tell him, but now that they promised each other and become best friends, it seemed like he had no choice. Heavily exhaling, he hid behind his hands and mumbled it quickly. Dipper’s eyebrows crossed. “Sorry, didn’t hear that …” He mumbled again. “Dude, come on.” He grabbed his hands and pulled them way from his face to hear what he said.

“I … I can see ghosts.” He said louder.

“You can do what?!” Both of the boys sat up straight, both shocked and glaring at each other. Slowly turning back to the hatchway of the roof, Mabel stood jaw open. Now both of the twin’s knew his secret.

“M-Mabel!” Dipper protested, dropping Norman’s arms. “What are you doing up here! I said no girls allowed.” He tried to make light of the situation. Mabel wasn’t taking any of it. Blowing a raspberry at her brother, she bounced over to Norman’s side.

“You can see ghosts?” She repeated. Nervously, he nodded. It’s not like he could take it back now. Both of the twins were silent for a moment, though it felt like forever to Norman. He was contemplating just getting up and going and never leaving his bedroom again. He just blew his chance of having two amazing friends all because Dipper had to know his secret. This was Dipper’s fault completely, but he didn’t feel any annoyance towards him. Just with himself for giving in. The twin’s glanced at each other. They could see Norman clenching his eyes shut as if he was waiting to be slapped. Both of the twins’ grinned happily to each other and back at Norman.

“I think maybe you should …” Dipper began.

“Yeah, I get it. I’ll go.” Norman sobbed, rising to his feet. Dipper shot up and grabbed a hold of his shoulder.

“Hey, I never said go!” Norman stopped and stared deeply into Dipper’s eyes feeling his own prickle slightly. He didn’t understand what he meant. “I was going to say: I think maybe you should come on an adventure with me and Mabel!” He grinned. Norman closed his eyes and scrunched his face. He didn’t believe what he was hearing. Giggling to herself, Mabel wrapped her arms around his neck shocking him and squeezed him tightly with a hug. His eye’s shot back open and glared down at her, quickly placing his arm on her back. Looking over her shoulder at Dipper, he was grinning wildly too. Pulling out of his embrace with Mabel, he shifted his eyes between the two of them.

“Y-you guys … aren’t scared?”

“Psssh!” Both of them sounded with their lips and slapped the air in front of them.

“I’ve seen some pretty crazy things in this town to be scare of you seeing ghosts. I mean, you’re pretty normal around here.” Dipper assured him.  

“Normal Norman!” Mabel screeched, laughing at her own pun. A smile bolted across Normans features.

“Seriously?” He couldn’t fathom what was happening. Dipper placed his hand on Norman’s shoulder.

“Seriously, man. So, how about that adventure?” Norman viscously nodded.

“I’d like that very much.” 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper turned back to Norman nervously laughing. Norman did nothing but grin; he couldn't wipe it away even if he wanted to. "S-so ..." Dipper staggered back to Norman's side, blushing slightly. "I feel bad about something ..." Norman's eyebrows burrowed. Oh my god, he's not going to take it all back is he?! "I ... kind of lied to you ..."

**Chapter ten**

Norman was elated. He felt higher than a rocket shooting out of the atmosphere. He felt as if he was the rocket; flying through the air touching each and every single star on his way. Dipper and Mabel began talking between themselves on the other side of the roof top but Norman heard none of the conversation. All he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears.

"Okay, Mabel. We'll be down in a bit." Dipper told his twin. With a smirk and a nod, she descended the ladder leaving the boys alone again. Dipper turned back to Norman nervously laughing. Norman did nothing but grin; he couldn't wipe it away even if he wanted to.

"S-so ..." Dipper staggered back to Norman's side, blushing slightly. "I feel bad about something ..." Norman's eyebrows burrowed. _Oh my god, he's not going to take it all back is he?!_ "I ... kind of lied to you ..."

"O-oh ..." He sounded, glaring down to the ground, he voice weak. "I get it ... it's just too weird for you guys ... don't worry ... I'll just go ..."

"No!" Dipper shouted again, catching Norman’s shoulder before he turned. "Geez, man. I feel like you're trying to escape us!" Letting go of Norman, he barely lifted his hat to scratch at his clammy scalp. "I wasn't on about that."

"What a-are you talking about, then?" Norman wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Dippers cheeks turned a light shade of pink and his lips awkwardly smiled.

"I ... lied about ... my birthmark being my biggest secret ... I'm sorry." Norman sighed with relief; he thought it was something serious for a moment. It wasn't difficult to suspect as much since he had already mentioned the fact he had seen crazy things and Norman was nothing compared to them. That being said, it didn't mean he wasn't going to wind Dipper up about it; they were best friends now, after all. Quickly shaking his head, he playfully pouted, crossed his arms and popped his hip to one side.

"What?!" He sarcastically shouted. "Dude, what about our best friend word? Oh, I don't know if I can trust you now ..."

"No, no!" Dipper flailed his arms around in a panic. Obviously he didn't ‘get’ sarcasm. "It's just ... it's a big secret, too ... and I wanted to know ... if I could ... you know ... if you could trust me ... then maybe I could trust you ... s-so you didn't ... make fun of me?" He rambled. Norman's mischievous scowl fell to a genuine smile. He understood completely what Dipper meant.

"Well, I t-trust you ... so you can trust me." Nodding in agreement, Dipper reached in to his vest pocket searching for something. He held his breath.

"Okay." Pulling out a battered and bruised looking book, he clutched it in front of his chest. "When Mabel and I came here at the beginning of summer, I stumbled across this." He held the book out for Norman to take. Accepting it, he stroked at the binder and glared at its cover. A yellow six-fingered hand with the number 3 was printed on the front. Carefully, he flipped through the first few pages. It appeared to be a journal of conspiracies and supernatural creatures. He could see little annotations and antidotes written in pencil in the corners which he assumed was Dipper’s handwriting. Whatever it was, he was extremely interested.

"That's why I've seen so many things, and why I love adventuring so much.” Dipper went off on a tangent as he told Norman about the book: where he found it, what he's read, and some of his adventures that he’s been on thanks to it. Basking in his stories, Norman caught himself lost in his friends eyes. Listening to Dipper babbling made his heart burst. He was extremely adorable, and it made Norman anxious. If anyone dared to interrupt Dipper at this moment, Norman would be furious.

"So yeah." He concluded. Norman didn’t speak a word in over five minutes making Dipper’s stomach flip with anticipation. His eyes were just glued on Dipper’s. “…Is this too weird for you?” Norman’s cheeks filled up with laughter. Was this too weird for _him_?  No one has ever asked him that. What he didn’t realise though was the just laughed in poor Dipper’s face. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you …” He scowled, his body boiling clearly embarrassed. Norman immediately stopped, wide eyed.

“No! I’m sorry! I wasn’t laughing at … no! I mean … I was laughing because … well … I see g-ghosts and you think this would weird _me_ out … it’s just … kind of cute.” Dipper began shaking.

“I’m not cute.” He demanded. Norman chuckled lightly.

“Well … you are a bit …” He joked. Dipper turned his head away from him in a mood. Norman couldn’t help but smirk at his reaction. “But … I’m not weird-ed out in the slightest. In fact, I think it’s pretty c-cool.” His eyes (finally tearing away from Dipper’s) wandered back down to the book in his hands.

“R-really?” Dipper beamed turning back to him, trying his hardest not to show how excited he really was. Norman nodded with a sweet smile. “Wow … really?” Norman laughed again.

“Yes, really.” He assured him. “Why don’t you believe me?”

“I don’t know …” He sheepishly scratched his head again. “I guess … it’s because people think … I’m normally a freak.”

“Well, I guess we’re both f-freaks then.”  Looking back up, their eye’s locked on each other’s for a moment. Norman began tingling beneath his skin again.  

“Dipper! Hurry up! I’m booooooooored” They heard from inside the shack. Jumping at the sound of Mabel, Dipper buried his face in his hand.

“Oh, that’s right, she wanted us to hang out with her now Candy and Grenada have gone …” Norman looked confused.

“How come they’ve gone?”

“They went home for tea.” _Darn_. Norman completely forgot to ring his mother and ask whether he could stay at the shack with his friend’s. And knowing Courtney, she’s probably forgot to tell them where he was anyway. Smacking the side of his head he gasped.

“I completely lost track of the time and haven’t rang my Mum!” Dipper shook his head playfully.

“Ooops!” He joked, walking over to the ladder and began climbing down. “Come on, you can use my new phone to ring home.”

“It’s alright!” He shouted following after him after him, “I’ve got my own phone.”

***

Once they were back inside of Dipper and Mabel’s bedroom, Norman flipped out his phone and began typing in his home number. Mabel cooed.

“Oooh, look at it! It’s so fancy!” She pulled out her own and began to compare. “Ours doesn’t flip like that, do they Dip?” Leading Norman over to her bed and sitting down, she took his phone out of his hands. “I mean … ours look totally lame compared to yours!” she groaned.

“Be happy that Mum and Dad even got us phones, Mabel …” Dipper reacted, sitting on the other side of Norman. He thought to himself that he was in the meat in the middle of a twin sandwich making him giggle. Mabel blew a raspberry at her brother.

“Can we put our numbers in here, Normy?” She rhetorically asked since she was already doing it. “I’m saved as ALPHA TWIN!” She jeered, jumping to her feet. “You’re saved as LITTLE DIPPY!”  Pointing in Dippers face, she mocked. “Cause you are a little dippy!” Falling to the floor hollowing, Dipper threw her a dirty look.

“Yes. Very funny, Mabel.” Dipper groaned. Norman chuckled.

“That’s going to stay in my phone as Little Dippy, you know!” He pushed his friends shoulder. Groaning even louder, he gave Norman the same look as Mabel.

“You dare.” He threatened.

“Oooh, what you gonna do?” He jeered. Unknowingly to Norman, Dipper’s hand had slowly reached across the side of the bed.

“Oh, I don’t know … maybe …” Tugging at Mabel’s pillow and smashing it across Norman’s face, he screeched. “THIS!” Losing his balance, Norman toppled over the edge of the bed and thudded on the floor next to Mabel. For a moment they all sat in silence. Norman wasn’t quite just what just happened. He felt his lip twitch in the corner. Dipper roared with laughter. Swiftly jumping to his feet, he ran over to Dipper bed and ripped the pillow off of the sheets and charged over to him.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Norman pounced, slamming the pillow into Dipper’s stomach.

“PILLOW FIGHT!” Mabel bellowed, manically pulling two pillows from behind her back and dove on top both of the boys. The three tangled around each other began hitting out as hard as they could, rolling around the bed and screaming with laughter. Norman’s ribs ached with the happiness. Ducking and diving, he took Dipper’s legs out with a wallop making him bounce backwards off the bed. Mabel jumped onto Norman’s back and flung the pillow down into his chest. Their cackling was louder than before; it was so loud that none of them heard the constant ringing of Norman’s phone from the bedside table. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Dipper! Slow down!” Norman screamed, clutching onto every side that he could grab. I knew it; I’m going to die …

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry that it's taken me awhile to get this chapter up, I've had so much university work to do this week. But here you go and I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 11**

It was a good half an hour they fought, never letting up once. Collapsed on the floor and gasping for air, they found it difficult to control their laughter. They all lay on their backs glaring at the ceiling in attempts of calming down. The smiles never ceased.

"Hey-Norm" Dipper panted. "Did-you-ring-home?" Norman abruptly sat up straight, slapping his face in the process.

"Oh-no!" Rushing to his feet, he patted down his pants to no avail. "Where's-my-phone?!" He panicked. Mabel lazily lifted a finger and pointed over to the bedside table. Her eyes had slipped shut. She was ready to pass out. Flying over to the other side of the room, he snatched his phone and gawked at the screen in shock. "Oh no, oh no!"

"What-is-it?" Dipper sat up worried. Norman's face was as white as a sheet.

"I have 8 miss calls from my D-Dad ..." Quickly pressing redial, he swayed anxiously. He was going to be in the dog house for sure. The dial tone rang out for eternity before his father finally answered.

"Norman!" He boomed. "Where the heck are you?! Your mother has been worried sick!"

"H-hi Dad ..." He stuttered. The twins could hear the fear in his voice as he spoke. "D-didn't Courtney t-tell you I was at my friend’s h-house?"

"Norman, it's nearly eight o'clock and we haven't heard from you! And what were you doing ignoring my calls?! You're in big trouble young man!" Norman gulped loudly.

"S-sorry Dad ... I-I didn't hear ... my p-phone ringing." He bit down hard on his lip.

"Get home right now!" Perry yelled. It wasn't hard for Dipper to hear the whole conversation with how loud he was shouting. He felt himself getting angry at the way Norman's Dad was speaking to Norman. He hadn't actually done anything wrong.

"B-but ... I-I'm with my fr-"

"Now!" Norman sighed heavily. He knew something would ruin this day, it was bound to happen.

"Y-yes Dad." Perry hung up. He stood there for a moment just listening to sound of nothing from the other end. Snapping out of his daze, he locked his phone and shoved it in his pocket. Turning back to the twins, he sighed again.

"I-I'm sorry ... but my D-Dad wants me home ..." He didn't want to leave. It was the first time he had felt so incredible and he wasn't ready to give it up. For once he felt like he belonged, normal even. Dipper rose to his feet.

"Well, we'll take you back, won't we Mabel?" But she didn't answer. Both looked down at her to see her snoring lightly. Chuckling to himself, Dipper grabbed Norman's wrist and pulled him out of the room. A simple act that Norman thought probably meant nothing to Dipper made him crazy. It was hard for him to control his lips from grinning and his cheeks from blushing wildly. He kept reminding himself how much trouble it was in as to not react to the fact Dipper's hand was touching his skin.

"Y-you don't have to walk me back," though really, he wanted him to. Walking together through the woods, alone, just after sunset; it was such an appealing notion to him. _Gosh, stop thinking like this, Norman!_ Dipper snorted to himself.

"Who said we're walking?"

***

"Erm ... Dipper? Are you sure about this?" Norman worried. Dipper shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He hopped inside the small golf cart sitting in the drive way of the shack. Norman felt nervous at the idea.

"Erm ... d-do you even ... know how to drive? I mean, you are 12."

"And a half!" He corrected, revving the cart to life. "I've done it before. Trust me." He cheekily grinned. Norman felt stupid staring at his goofy smile. Rolling his eyes, he climbed next to him.

“I’m going to die …” He mumbled under his breath.

"Okay, so where do you live?"

"Near the museum?" He asked, unsure whether it was a museum at all. He hadn’t had time to explore the town much seen he arrived. Awkwardly pointing towards the woods, he swayed side to side. "That way?"

"Here we go!" Norman went to pull the seat belt around him. His eyes grew wide.

"Erm ... Dipper? W-where are the seat belts?" Dipper chuckled to himself as he pulled out of the driveway. "Dipper?!"

***

“Dipper! Slow down!” Norman screamed, clutching onto every side that he could grab. _I knew it; I’m going to die …_

“Stop panicking, Norman, I’m not going _that_ fast … ehehehe …” He nervously giggled putting Norman even more on edge. Truth be told, Dipper was worried at the speed they were going since he couldn’t slow the kart down. _Stupid breaks._

“Dipper! Watch out!” Swerving around an old lady, Norman covered his eyes. “I’m n-never letting you do this a-again!” Finally managing to slam the cart down into a crawl, Dipper grinned widely at Norman.

“Such a worry wart …” He tried to play it cool. “So, which one is your house?”

“Erm … m-maybe we should park a few h-houses away.” He pulled at his collar. “I-I think my D-Dad might kill me if I’m late and r-riding in a golf cart with a 12 year old at the w-wheel.” Dipper nodded.

“Good plan. I’ll pull in here, yeah?” Making a right turn down a little alley way, Norman took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he was still alive after this ordeal.  After the cart had stopped, Norman quickly jumped out; thanking the heavens he was still alive.  “So, which way?” Dipper hopped next to him thrusting his arms on his hips.

“Erm … it’s around the c-corner. You don’t need to walk me … if you don’t want too.” Dipper shook his head.

“Don’t be silly!” Not that he would admit it, but Norman was glad that Dipper wouldn’t leave him on his own. It made him giddy inside that Dipper wanted to walk him up to his door and to let his parents know he was a good friend. Norman was just happy to prove to his parents he _has_ a friend.

“T-thanks, Dipper.” He bashfully smiled. Leading the way, they walked in a comfortable silence next to each other. Finally reaching the pathway of Norman’s home, Dipper spoke.

“Do you reckon you’re going to get in a lot of trouble?” He felt guilty for taking up so much of Norman’s time to the point he might end up being grounded. Norman shrugged.

“If Dad gets his way, I will … if Mum gets her way, I won’t.” Dipper shook his head.

“Your Dad sounds kind of like a bully ...”

“W-what do you mean?” Dipper’s eyes widened.

“Oh, no, no, I didn’t mean to offend you! I just mean he sounds like he’s pretty tough of you …” Dipper flailed. Norman crooked a side smile.

“Yeah … I g-guess. Mum says it’s because he w-worries about me.”  He sighed. “B-but sometimes …. I-I don’t know …” Dipper frowned.

“I get what you mean.” Norman knew that he did. “Maybe … I mean … would it helped if I spoke to them? Told them that it was my fault?” He asked.

“It w-wasn’t your fault though …”

“Norman!” Perry shouted from the door. “Don’t dillydally in front of the house, you’re already in trouble. Get in here, now!” Dipper felt goose bumps up his arms and the hair’s on the back of his neck stand on end as Norman’s father shook with anger.

“Now, Perry. What did I tell you?” Sandra softly spoke, placing her hand on her husband shoulder. Looking over to her son, she noticed the young boy stood with him. A smile crept across her features. “Oh! Hello, there!” She grinned. “You must be our Norman’s new friend!” Perry grunted next to his petite wife. Dipper sweetly returned the smile.

“Hello, Mrs Babcock.” He politely spoke. “Mr Babcock.” Perry grunted again.

“Mum, D-Dad, this is D-Dipper.” Norman introduced.

“Why, hello Dipper!” Sandra greeted. “Thank you for walking Norman back home, that was very nice of you.” Norman rolled his eyes with amusement, _walking my butt_.  

“It’s not a problem.” He blushed, scratching the back of his head. Sandra could sense that Dipper was a nice enough boy to be friends with her son. “It was getting late and I didn’t want him to walk back on his own. I’m s-sorry for how late it is, by the way. That was my fault. I-I just wasn’t paying attention to the time.” She felt exuberant that Norman made a friend that cared about his welfare.

“Well, thank you, Dipper. Would you like a lift back home? It’s getting rather dark.”

“Oh, n-no thank you, Mrs Babcock. I don’t live that far away.” He smiled.

“Okay, well, at least you would you like stay for tea tomorrow after school as a thank you? That is, if Norman would like you too.”

“Yes.” Norman said far too quickly. “Erm … I mean, y-yeah, sure. If you w-want.”  

“But, Sandra! Norman is grounded for staying out so late!”

“Perry, not now. We’ll discuss this later.” Her tone was low and sharp.

“Erm … yeah, I’d like that. Thank you, Mrs Babcock.” Dipper sheepishly smiled.

“M-Mabel can come too, if she wants.” Norman added, subtly letting his parent’s know he had made more than just one friend.

“Who’s Mabel?” Sandra asked.

“She’s my twin sister.”

“Oh, you’re a twin?” He nodded.

“She was going to walk Norman home, too, but … s-she had some homework to do.” He lied. Since Norman’s father already seemed pretty annoyed that Norman was out late, he thought it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell them it was because of a pillow fight.

“Well, of course she’s invited too.” Sandra smiled. “Come on, Norman. Your dinner will be getting cold.”

“O-Okay. S-See you, Dipper.” He smiled.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow, Norm. Goodnight, Mrs and Mr Babcock.” Dipper turned on his heel and headed back down the path. Norman’s eyes followed him fondly.

“Goodnight, Dipper!” Sandra waved after him. “Come on, Normy. I want to hear all about your day.” Placing her hand on her son’s back, she walked him into the house with Perry sighing behind them.    


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Love you too, Mum." He felt scared looking at his father when he was like this. "N-night Dad." The only reply he got was a grunt. That was enough for him. He had only left the room for a minute before his father was screaming about him, again. He hovered on the other side of the door, his back pressed against the wall to hear his father’s harsh words.

**Chapter 12**

"I'm very happy that you made some friends, Norman." Sandra glowed and she plated her son’s dinner and placed it in front of him. "Dipper seems very nice."

"H-he is." He grinned, picking up his fork and shoveling food into his mouth. He hadn't realised how hungry he was.

"I'm still angry you never called us! Anything could have happened to you! We didn't know where you were, who you were with! And that kid was too brown nosey." Perry snapped. Norman stopped eating and sunk low in his chair.

"Perry!" Sandra shrieked. "Courtney told us where Norman was!"

"But Norman never rang us, Sandra! It's was eight thirty before we heard from him!" Norman wasn't hungry anymore.

"I-I think I ... I might just go to b-bed" he stammered, pushing the remained of his tea across the table.

"No, Normy, finish your food." Sandra worried.

"I-I'm not hungry ... just tired." It was easy to see he was lying. He just needed to get away from his father. Dipper was right; he was tough on him.

"O-okay. Goodnight." Sandra whispered, walking to her son’s side and softly kissed his forehead. "Sweet dreams, I love you."

"Love you too, Mum." He felt scared looking at his father when he was like this. "N-night Dad." The only reply he got was a grunt. That was enough for him. He had only left the room for a minute before his father was screaming about him, again. He hovered on the other side of the door, his back pressed against the wall to hear his father’s harsh words.

"Sandra, for god sake you're too easy on that boy!"

"Perry, he was at his friend’s house! You should be happy he's made friends on his first day, and one of them even walked him home to make sure he was safe."

"He never rang us, Sandra!"

"I know that, but Courtney told us where he was!"

"When Courtney was his age, she was grounded for staying out this late!"

"Yes, Perry. But that was because she was hanging out on a park with older kids and was vandalising! Norman was at his friend’s house!"

"So he says."

"Oh, Perry."

"Well, you don't know! He could have just paid the kid off to pretend to be his friend; he's not exactly a normal kid now is he?"

That one hit him, hard.

"Perry! How could you even say something like that? He's your son! He has other friends, you know. What about Neil?"

"He helped him stop an army of Zombies and a crazy witch kid, I'm sure Norman's sixth sense wouldn't seem so special to him anymore. That and that kid seemed pretty weird before any of that happened anyway."

"Perry, don't say something like that!"

"Norman!" Courtney snuck up on her brother.

"Ah! ... O-oh ... Hey, C-Courtney." He stammered. Grabbing tightly a hold of his sleeve as he avoided eye contact with her, he was pretty sure that she had heard the conversation, too.

"You know," she weakly smiled "you shouldn't listen to Dad sometimes."

His eyes were fixated to the floor. It was a regular occurrence that is father would rant and rave about him. Usually he would ignore it and brush it off, but today there was something inside of him that needed to hear what he had to say.

"Y-yeah ..."

"And you especially shouldn't go out of your way to listen at the door when he's doing it." She was right, he shouldn't be doing this. He couldn't even explain why he was. He shook his head.

"Y-yeah." Finally tearing his eyes away from the floor, he glanced at her. He wasn't expecting for her to look so hurt. "I'm fine, though." He rushed.

"Yeah, I know." Gently kissing her brothers cheek, she softly smiled. "You've got your friends to remind you how awesome you are, now." Norman smiled back to her. He remembered how happy she was when he introduced his friends to her. Never had she been so proud of him - not even the day he saved his old town from being destroyed.

"Yeah!" He grinned.

"He needs to man the hell up!" Both Norman and Courtney glared at the kitchen door. Norman's smiled faded from his lips as his eyes searched the ground again.

"I'm just going to go bed..." His feet stalked towards the staircase. Courtney bubbled over with rage.

"Ugh! How dare he?!" She shrieked. "Don't you forget you're a hero, Norman! Don't you dare forget that." Barely smiling his thanks, he drooped up to his room.

***

An hour later he was lay in bed, glaring at the ceiling. Why would his father ruin his perfect day? He couldn't just be happy at the fact Norman had made friends? Decent friends who accepted him and made him feel welcomed?

Sleep was impossible. All he could think about was his father’s haunting words. No matter how much Courtney or his grandmother tried to cheer him up, his mind wouldn't switch off.

Tossing over to his side, he heard a small vibration on his desk table. Rolling back over, he reached for his phone. _It's probably Neil I forgot to text him today..._

Flipping open his phone, his scowl fell to a whole hearted smiled. The name plastered the middle of the screen made his stomach churn. Little Dippy.

Scrambling to sit up, he opened the message:

**Hey Norm! Did you get in much trouble? Dip**

His genuine smile could have lit his darkened room. He typed a replied and quickly deleted it. _No that won't do ..._ His mind began racing with thoughts of a reply that sounded decent. Finally sighing to himself, he realised he was being stupid over thinking it.

**Hey, I didn’t get into too much, but my Dad is pretty angry at me.**

He crossed his legs and sat up straight on his bed. His phone placed on top of quilt in front of him. The longer he stared the long it took for a reply, but his eyes just wouldn't stop gawking at the screen waiting for Dippers name to pop up. Five antagonizing minutes later, he buzzed again.

**I'm really sorry about getting you in trouble.**

He chuckled. It was so cute how Dipper blamed himself. He waited a few moments before replying. If he had learnt anything from Courtney's 'boy rants', it was you never text back straight away. He didn't want to seem too eager.

**It wasn't your fault, don't worry. Are you and Mabel still coming for tea tomorrow night?**

Send. He tapped on his knees until a text returned.  He almost forgot about what he’s dad had said about him since he received the unexpected text.

**Is it okay? I don’t want your Dad to be angry with you even more.**

Norman smiled at how considerate Dipper was.

**Of course it’s alright.**

**Great! Wouldn’t miss it. We’ll come meet you in the morning and go to school together.**

Norman rolled around on his bed excitedly as he read the text. _Okay, sound cool …_

**No golf carts!**

**Haha! Fine, we’ll walk.**

**Good.**

**Awesome! Okay, I’m going to go to bed now, Mabel’s gets annoyed with my typing. See you in the morning.**

**Yeah, goodnight.**

Norman closed his phone and placed it back on his bedside table. Settling himself back down in bed, he resumed staring at the ceiling. This time it wasn’t with anger. It was with pure happiness. It was a strange emotion for him. He hadn’t been used to such an overwhelming feeling of warmth. Not even when he helped Aggie cross over. It was all due to one person; that one person with the funny hat who decided to befriend him, Dipper Pines.

Sleep swept over him quickly after that. All he could see in his dreams was the face of his new friend. It didn’t move. It just smiled back at him with a welcoming smile that made everything alright. He could feel his hand move out to try and touch the boy’s cheek and pull him close. He just wanted one sweet …

Norman’s eye’s flung wide open. Abruptly sitting up straight on his bed, he panted for air. He was covered in cold sweat.

“Oh no!” he breathed. “I can’t … I can’t have …” He buried his face into his hands. “Stupid Norman.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the story! I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is just the first parapine story of many and they'll all lead on from each other.


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